Yogurt’s Status as Health Food in Question, Study Finds
While the USDA is planning to move forward with a Greek yogurt program for the nation’s schools, new research says yogurt may not be deserving of it’s longtime standing as a health food.
Long-believed to be one of the more healthy food options available, with a wide range of benefits, the new research, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, found no significant health benefits in people who regularly ate yogurt, except for what the researchers noted as a slight mental health benefit too insignificant to count.
Researchers from Spain’s Autonomous University of Madrid analyzed health data and yogurt consumption of more than 4,400 adults over a four-year period. “They found that those who ate yogurt regularly did not have any significant improvement in their health-related quality of life — physically or mentally,” reports Yahoo Health.
“The regular consumption of yogurt was not linked to health-related quality of life,” lead author Esther Lopez-Garcia said in a press release. “For future research more specific instruments must be used which may increase the probability of finding a potential benefit of this food.”
The findings fly in the face of numerous studies that have found yogurt’s benefits to include a reduced risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. It’s even been connected with a reduced risk of heavy metal exposure for fetuses.
“In comparison with people that did not eat yogurt, those who ate this dairy product regularly did not display any significant improvement in their score on the physical component of quality of life, and although there was a slight improvement mentally, this was not statistically significant,” Lopez-Garcia added.
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Yogurt image via Shutterstock
