A national attitudinal survey about Irish adults’ digestive health conducted on behalf of Danone Activia has found that the majority of Irish adults are suffering in silence from digestive health issues despite the fact that poor digestive health can potentially lead to more serious health issues.
Digestive discomfort causes 27 per cent of Mayo adults to feel less attractive, and nine per cent of Mayo adults claim digestive discomfort impacts on their libido.
The Danone Activia Digestive Health Survey has found that 83 per cent of adults aged 25 to 34 suffer from bloating or a swollen belly regularly and that 38 per cent of adults reported symptoms such as feeling heavy and slow digestion more than once a week.
Consultant dietitian Sarah Keogh said that the survey findings are consistent with what she sees in her own practice: “Digestive health is not something that people – especially Irish people - are comfortable discussing, and as such people don’t realise that something needs attention.
“Yet poor digestive health could lead to more serious illnesses like colorectal or bowel cancer — the second most common cancer in Ireland. In 2009, there were 2,271 people diagnosed with bowel cancer. Therefore raising awareness of this issue is very important, and campaigns that promote digestive health awareness – such as this – have an important role to play in disseminating this message to the general population.
For tips on how to help reduce your digestive discomfort log on to www.activia.ie
