The Benefits of Yogurt Consumption

Yogurt is a wonderful snack or breakfast food that tastes good, comes in a multitude of flavors for every taste, and best of all its extremely good for you. You can't go wrong when you regularly eat yogurt. Yogurt is a fermented dairy product made using bacterial cultures to milk. Yogurt with active live cultures, are considered probiotics. Probiotics are living organisms in foods that can give health benefits when eaten in adequate amounts. Good bacteria can help with the digestive system by replacing or increasing the microflora in the intestines. Good bacteria can also help improve your immune system. Yogurt also has animal protein, calcium, vitamins B-2 and B-12, potassium, and magnesium. Having a good immune system can help prevent a huge array of medical problems. Its a simple deal to add yogurt to your daily food intake and its so good for you.

Since yogurt is a dairy product it can help prevent Osteoporosis. Yogurt has calcium and Vitamin D which has been shown to improve skeletal health. The more you eat the better for your bones. Especially in women over the age of 50. A recent study at Harvard School of Public Health found that daily intake of dairy products reduces the risk of high blood pressure by 50%. Yogurt also helps the digestive system. By ingesting probiotic live cultures the digestive system works the way it was intended. Yogurt is thought to help with constipation, diarrhea, colon cancer,and  inflammatory bowel disease. It also improves your immune system to help you fight these problems. Research studies have shown that yogurt helps fortify your immune system which increases your resistance to immune related diseases. Its especially good for the older population who usually have lower resistance to certain diseases. Yogurt has also been shown to reduce the incidents of yeast infections due to the live active cultures found in yogurt. Yogurt has been found in one study that people who consume yogurt with live cultures showed a significant drop in their LDL or bad cholesterol but also showed an increase in their HDL or good cholesterol.

Yogurt is a great food for supplementing your diet. Its very good for you, because of the live cultures. But it tastes good and is low in calories so its a great alternative to eating a cookie or some other high calorie food. So you get the benefits of live culture to improve your overall health and its lower in calories than most good tasting foods. Yogurt helps you to fell fuller longer,it has calcium for your bones, and helps your digestive and immune systems. In another study on obese men and women consuming 3 daily portions of yogurt lost 61% more fat and 81% more abdominal fat than other people consuming the same amount of calories but with little or no dairy products. Scientists are not sure why consuming yogurt promotes fat loss but they are still working on the reason why. Nonetheless this study was published in the International Journal of Obesity and show adding yogurt to your daily diet can help with fat loss.

There are a lot of people who just don't like the idea of fermented milk products. When you think about most people associate it with spoiled milk in their refrigerators. And for many years I didn't eat yogurt either. But with a bit of cajoling from my kids and husband I finally gave it a try about a year ago. And much to my surprise it was very very good. All those lost years of a wonderful food. I now eat yogurt every day. Yogurt comes in a dazzling array of flavor, from Key Lime Pie, which has become a huge favorite, and sometimes it seems they sell out of that flavor quickly, to fruit flavors with chunks of fruit, to Boston Creme Pie and Cinnamon Roll flavors. Whatever your taste there is probably a flavor you like. Some people still can't get past the fermentation idea, so a good idea is to freeze your yogurt. It tastes like ice cream after its frozen and some people can eat it only frozen. Give it a try if you have never eaten yogurt, you might be pleasantly surprised. Here's to your health.