Is Yogurt REALLY Healthy? Here’re the Facts

For those who eat healthy or are on diet, you may have heard that yogurt is a much healthier alternative to ice cream. 

However, it is important to note that while many yogurts sold in the market are healthy, there are even more yogurts sold that are unhealthy. Thus, before buying any types of yogurts, we need to check the ingredients in the yogurt so that we do not buy the unhealthy ones.

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Yogurts we commonly eat:

Low-fat or no-fat yogurt
Low-fat yogurt is made with 2% skim milk or low-fat milk. No-fat yogurt is made with fat-free milk.

Greek yogurt
Greek yogurt is thicker and creamier than regular yogurt. As it is further strained, the removal of its excess liquid results in a higher protein content due to its thicker concentration.

Frozen yogurt
Frozen yogurt is mostly lower in fat content and more tart than ice cream, while giving a similar frozen and icy experience.

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Why is yogurt healthy?

Yogurt contains good bacteria known as probiotics, which is good for our gut. Probiotics live in our digestive tract and can crowd out harmful micro-organisms that can possibly cause intestinal infection. It reduces the chance of getting diarrhea, constipation, gas and bloating.

Yogurt also contains calcium, which is known for maintaining healthy bones and teeth. It is also important in blood clotting, wound healing and maintain normal blood pressure. 

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But…why is yogurt also unhealthy?

However, yogurt can also be unhealthy due to the large amount of sugar added and artificial sweeteners. To make the product look healthy, manufacturers can write whatever they want on the label. Thus, it is important to read the ingredient list carefully before buying. 

To cater to the palate of consumers, many yogurt brands also produce yogurt of many different flavours, especially fruit flavours. This will easily increase the sugar content in the yogurt, causing it to become unhealthy. Generally, a yogurt that has below 10g of sugar per serving is fine as all yogurt will have natural sugar.

Yogurt-flavoured products such as cereal can also be unhealthy as they contain very little amount of yogurt powder, which is treated with heat, killing all the healthy bacteria in the yogurt. What is left is sugar and oil on the product.

Therefore, before we buy any yogurt, here’s one takeaway: take note of the ingredients in the product and remember that not all yogurt is healthy.

Featured image: dailymail.co.uk

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com