Impressive Health Benefits of Yogurt

It’s known for containing a lot of calcium, a mineral necessary for healthy teeth and bones. Just one cup provides 49% of your daily calcium needs. It’s also high in B vitamins, particularly vitamin B12 and riboflavin, both of which may protect against heart disease and certain neural tube birth defects.

Protein is shown to support metabolism by increasing your energy expenditure, or the number of calories that you burn throughout the day. Getting enough protein is also important for appetite regulation, as it increases the production of hormones that signal fullness. It may help reduce the number of calories you consume overall, which is beneficial for weight management

Many yogurts have been pasteurized, which is a heat treatment that kills the beneficial bacteria they contain. Even some yogurt varieties that are labeled as containing “live, active cultures” often have some probiotic loss due to varying storage temperatures and other factors. Despite this, your best bet for the most effective probiotics is still to check the label and look for one that contains live, active cultures.

Consuming yogurt — especially if it contains probiotics — regularly may strengthen your immune system and reduce your likelihood of contracting disease-causing agents. Probiotics are known to potentially reduce inflammation, which is linked to several health conditions ranging from viral infections to gut disorders

Yogurt’s fat content is one of the reasons why its healthiness is often controversial. It contains mostly saturated fat, with a small amount of monounsaturated fatty acids. Previously, saturated fat was believed to cause heart disease, but current research shows that it’s more complicated. Nevertheless, fat-free and low fat varieties of yogurt are still popular in the United States

Greek yogurt in particular has several properties that may help with weight management. For starters, it’s high in protein, which works along with calcium to increase levels of appetite-reducing hormones like peptide YY and GLP-1. Furthermore, several studies have found that yogurt consumption is associated with lower body weight, body fat percentage, and waist circumference