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Home > Anti-aging Research > Yoghurt

Yogurt

My yogurt recipe:

I use the Yogourmet Electric Yogurt Maker.  I worried about the BPA in the plastic container so I bought a case of Widemouth Clear Half Gallon Glass Jar (64oz) w/ White Metal Lid at Specialty Bottle.  I mix one and three quarters cups of whole milk powder (see Nestle Nido Instant Milk Powder Europe, 2-Pound Tins (Pack of 4)) and one and three quarters cups of non-fat dry milk with water in a blender.  Then I add one container of vanilla flavored Activia for the culture.  Don't use the Activia that says "70 calories".  It doesn't come out right for some reason.  Blend it once more quickly because you don't want to kill the culture.  I add that mixture to the half gallon jar and fill it to the top with water.  Then I put it in the Yogourmet for 14 hours then cure it in the refrigerator for two days before you eat it.  I flavor it with Smucker's Orchard's Finest Strawberry.  You might want to purchase some kind of timer for the Yogourmet.

News & Research:

  • Stressful day ahead? Grab a yogurt for breakfast - TODAY Health, 10/12/12 - "Researchers from the University of Cork fed mice a diet full of Lactobacillus rhamnosus (JB-1), bacteria that colonize the gut that provide healthy digestion and prevent diarrhea, and found that the mice exhibited fewer signs of depression and anxiety and expressed less corticosterone, a stress hormone. A regular diet of probiotics changed the brain chemistry in the mice -- probiotics modified how the mice expressed receptors for the neurotransmitter GABA, suggesting that probiotics change neurochemistry"
  • Sesame & Rice Bran Oil, Yogurt Help Blood Pressure - WebMD, 9/19/12 - "The first study showed a sesame and rice bran oil blend reduced blood pressure almost as well as a commonly used medication. And the second study found that people who routinely eat yogurt are less likely to develop high blood pressure ... In the yogurt study, about 2,000 adults without high blood pressure were followed for 14 years. The researchers found that participants were 31% less likely to develop high blood pressure if more than 2% of their daily calories came from yogurt" - See sesame seed products at iHerb and rice bran oil at iHerb.
  • Yogurt Makes Mice Slimmer, Sexier - ABC News, 5/7/12 - "Not only does yogurt make mice slimmer; it also makes them sexier ... Maybe probiotics in the yogurt have something to do with the effects on weight ... It turns out their testicles were 5 percent bigger than those of their non-yogurt eating counterparts, and 15 percent bigger than those of mice on a diet designed to mimic “junk food” in humans. And in this case, bigger was better ... And let’s not forget the ladies. Female mice that ate yogurt were even shinier than the males, and tended to be better moms to their larger litters"
  • Greek yogurt on a marathon-like growth spurt - USATODAY.com, 1/23/12 - "Greek yogurt is made a bit differently than the thinner, more watery product that dominated U.S. supermarket shelves for decades. The whey is strained off, leaving a creamier yogurt high in protein and low in fat"
  • Probiotic intake linked to fewer birth complications - Nutra USA, 9/13/11 - "The Norwegian researchers analyzed data from 33,399 women participating in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study ... The intake of lactobacilli-containing milk-based products was determined using a food frequency questionnaire, while pre-eclampsia was determined using the Norwegian Medical Birth Registry ... the daily intake of at least 140 mL of probiotic milk products was associated with a 20% reduced risk of pre-eclampsia ... The effects were more pronounced for severe pre-eclampsia, with daily and weekly intakes of probiotic products associated with a 39% and 25%, respectively" - [Abstract]
  • Foods rich in protein, dairy products help dieters preserve muscle and lose belly fat - Science Daily, 8/29/11 - "a higher-protein, lower-carbohydrate energy-restricted diet has a major positive impact on body composition, trimming belly fat and increasing lean muscle, particularly when the proteins come from dairy products ... compared three groups of overweight and obese, but otherwise healthy, premenopausal women. Each consumed either low, medium or high amounts of dairy foods coupled with higher or lower amounts of protein and carbohydrates ... there were identical total weight losses among the groups, but the higher-protein, high-dairy group experienced greater whole-body fat and abdomen fat losses, greater lean mass gains and greater increases in strength ... One hundred per cent of the weight lost in the higher-protein, high-dairy group was fat. And the participants gained muscle mass, which is a major change in body composition ... the lower-protein, low-dairy group lost about a pound and half of muscle whereas the lower-protein, medium dairy group lost almost no muscle. In marked contrast, the higher-protein, high-dairy group actually gained a pound and half of muscle, representing a three-pound difference between the low- and high-dairy groups ... On top of the muscle mass differences, the higher-protein, high-dairy group lost twice as much belly fat than the lower-protein, low-dairy group ... These women also got fitter and stronger"
  • Potatoes bad, nuts good for staying slim, Harvard study finds - The Washington Post, 6/22/11 - "But is a serving of boiled potatoes really much worse than a helping of nuts? Is some white bread as bad as a candy bar? Could yogurt be a key to staying slim? ... The answer to all those questions is yes, according to the provocative revelations produced by a big Harvard project that for the first time details how much weight individual foods make people put on or keep off ... Although calories remain crucial, some foods clearly cause people to put on more weight than others, perhaps because of their chemical makeup and how our bodies process them ... starches and refined carbohydrates such as potatoes cause blood sugar and insulin to surge, which makes people feel less satisfied and eat more as a result ... Researchers will surely scramble to try to explain why yogurt appears so helpful. It may be because of subtle shifts of microbes in the digestive tract, or perhaps because people who eat more yogurt also tend to do other healthy things"
  • Yogurt may boost immune function in at-risk populations - Nutra USA, 6/21/11
  • Comfort food: Protein from probiotic bacteria may alleviate inflammatory bowel disorders - Science Daily, 5/23/11 - "A protein isolated from beneficial bacteria found in yogurt and dairy products could offer a new, oral therapeutic option for inflammatory bowel disorders (IBD) ... the protein supports intestinal epithelial cell growth and function, and reduces inflammatory responses that can cause intestinal cells to die. Importantly, the investigators showed that oral consumption of p40 by mice in a protective delivery system prevents and treats colitis in multiple models of the disease ... Many of the hundreds of bacterial species that live in our gut (known as the "human microbiome") are helpful to us: they help us digest certain substances, produce vitamins and fight off more dangerous bacteria. But miscommunication between these bacteria and our gut lining can lead to conditions like ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease"
  • Component in common dairy foods may cut diabetes risk, study suggests - Science Daily, 12/20/10 - "The compound, trans-palmitoleic acid, is a fatty acid found in milk, cheese, yogurt, and butter ... trans-palmitoleic acid may underlie epidemiological evidence in recent years that diets rich in dairy foods are linked to lower risk of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic abnormalities. Health experts generally advise reducing full-fat dairy products, but trans-palmitoleic acid is found in dairy fat ... At baseline, higher circulating levels of trans-palmitoleic acid were associated with healthier levels of blood cholesterol, inflammatory markers, insulin levels, and insulin sensitivity, after adjustment for other risk factors. During follow-up, individuals with higher circulating levels of trans-palmitoleic acid had a much lower risk of developing diabetes, with about a 60% lower risk among participants in the highest quintile (fifth) of trans-palmitoleic acid levels"
  • Dannon's Activia, DanActive health claims draw $21M fine - USATODAY.com, 12/15/10 - "Dannon will stop claiming that one daily serving of Activia yogurt relieves irregularity and that DanActive helps people avoid catching colds" - Here's the reason I used Activia to make my own yoghurt (first bullet).  This article doesn't address it.  I never did buy off on the irregularity claim but there might be some support for colds:
    • Dannon Activia | How Activia Helps - Activia.com - "This is where Activia, with Bifidus Regularis®, can help! Activia is shown in several clinical studies to survive passage through the digestive system and arrive in the gut in enough quantities to help have a positive impact on slow intestinal transit"
    • Probiotics show potential against common cold: Study - Nutra USA 9/21/10 - "daily consumption of Lactobacillus plantarum HEAL 9 (DSM 15312) and Lactobacillus paracasei 8700:2 (DSM 13434) reduced the incidence of one or more episodes of the common cold from 67 percent in the placebo group to 55 percent, according to findings published in the European Journal of Nutrition ... Furthermore, the number of days of symptoms for the cold was significantly reduced in people taking the probiotic supplements, from an average of 8.6 to 6.2, compared with placebo ... the total symptom score was reduced during the study period from a mean of 44.4 for the control group to 33.6 for the probiotic group"
  • The Benefits of Yogurt - WebMD, 3/7/07 - "your body needs to have a healthy amount of ''good'' bacteria in the digestive tract ... Yogurt May Help Prevent Osteoporosis ... Yogurt May Reduce the Risk of High Blood Pressure ... Yogurt With Active Cultures Helps the Gut ... Yogurt With Active Cultures May Discourage Vaginal Infections ... Yogurt May Help You Feel Fuller"
  • Gut bacteria could be key indicator of colon cancer risk - Science Daily, 6/24/10- "a shift in the balance between the "good" bacteria and the "bad" bacteria that populate our gut could be a harbinger of colon cancer ... We think something happens to tip the balance away from the beneficial bacteria and in favor of microbes that make toxic metabolites and are detrimental to our health ... By pinpointing these bacterial culprits, we can not only identify people at risk, but also suggest that they include the good bacteria in their diet .. And what a great way to address colon cancer -- you could know your risk and lower it by eating your yogurt every day" - Note:  Dannon claims that only their Activia brand reaches the gut.  see:
    • Activia by Dannon - "Specialists at Dannon® selected Bifidus Regularis™ for Activia® because it survives passage through the digestive tract, arriving in the colon as a living culture. Once there, it plays a beneficial role in your intestinal ecosystem"
  • 15 best age-erasing superfoods - MSNBC, 5/25/10 - "Yogurt ... Various cultures claim yogurt as their own creation, but the 2,000-year-old food’s health benefits are not disputed: Fermentation spawns hundreds of millions of probiotic organisms that serve as reinforcements to the battalions of beneficial bacteria in your body, which keep your digestive tract healthy and your immune system in top form, and provide protection against cancer. Not all yogurts are probiotic, though, so make sure the label says “live and active cultures.”"
  • Yogurt-like drink DanActive reduced rate of common infections in daycare children - Science Daily, 5/19/10 - "Researchers found a 19 percent decrease of common infections among the children who drank the yogurt-like drink with L. casei DN-114 001 compared to those whose drink did not have the probiotic. More specifically, those who drank DanActive had 24 percent fewer gastrointestinal infections (such as diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting), and 18 percent fewer upper respiratory tract infections (such as ear infections, sinusitis and strep). However, the reduction in infections did not result in fewer missed school days or activities -- also a primary outcome of the study" - [Abstract]
  • New Yogurt Fights Stomach Ulcers - WebMD, 3/22/09 - "H. pylori uses an enzyme called urease to attach to and infect the inside of the stomach. This latest yogurt, designed to fight stomach ulcers, contains an antibody called IgY-urease. The yogurt is marketed as Dr. Piro in Japan and as Gut in Korea. Researchers are hopeful that their clinical trial will pave the way for approval in the United States ... For the trial, scientists recruited 42 people who tested positive for H. pylori. Some participants ate the yogurt with the antibody three times a day for four weeks. Some participants ate the same amount of regular yogurt that didn't contain the antibody. H. pylori activity was significantly reduced in the antibody yogurt group"
  • Probiotic Yogurt May Help Eradicate H. pylori Infection - Medscape, 4/17/06 - "Four weeks of pretreatment with AB-yogurt before quadruple therapy improves eradication rate of residual H. pylori after failed triple therapy"

Abstracts:

  • Cholesterol-lowering efficacy of a microencapsulated bile salt hydrolase-active Lactobacillus reuteri NCIMB 30242 yoghurt formulation in hypercholesterolaemic adults - Br J Nutr. 2011 Nov 9:1-9 - "Over the intervention period, subjects consuming yoghurts containing microencapsulated L. reuteri NCIMB 30242 attained significant reductions in LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) of 8.92 % (P = 0.016), total cholesterol (TC) of 4.81 % (P = 0.031) and non-HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) of 6.01 % (P = 0.029) over placebo, and a significant absolute change in apoB-100 of - 0.19 mmol/l (P = 0.049). Serum concentrations of TAG and HDL-C were unchanged over the course of the study. Present results show that consumption of microencapsulated BSH-active L. reuteri NCIMB 30242 yoghurt is efficacious and safe for lowering LDL-C, TC, apoB-100 and non-HDL-C in hypercholesterolaemic subjects. The efficacy of microencapsulated BSH-active L. reuteri NCIMB 30242 yoghurts appears to be superior to traditional probiotic therapy and akin to that of other cholesterol-lowering ingredients"
  • A Diet High in Low-Fat Dairy Products Lowers Diabetes Risk in Postmenopausal Women - J Nutr. 2011 Sep 21 - "After multivariable adjustment, low-fat dairy product consumption was inversely associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes. RR was roughly 0.5-0.6 in the upper quintiles compared with the lowest quintile (median servings/d, 2.8 in the 5th quintile and 1.5 in the 4th quintile vs. 0.05 in the first quintile; P-trend < 0.001). The inverse relationship was more pronounced in women with a higher BMI. High yogurt consumption was associated with a significant decrease in diabetes risk, whereas there was no relationship between high-fat dairy product consumption and diabetes risk"
  • Increased Consumption of Dairy Foods and Protein during Diet- and Exercise-Induced Weight Loss Promotes Fat Mass Loss and Lean Mass Gain in Overweight and Obese Premenopausal Women - J Nutr. 2011 Jul 20 - "Weight loss can have substantial health benefits for overweight or obese persons; however, the ratio of fat:lean tissue loss may be more important. We aimed to determine how daily exercise (resistance and/or aerobic) and a hypoenergetic diet varying in protein and calcium content from dairy foods would affect the composition of weight lost in otherwise healthy, premenopausal, overweight, and obese women. Ninety participants were randomized to 3 groups (n = 30/group): high protein, high dairy (HPHD), adequate protein, medium dairy (APMD), and adequate protein, low dairy (APLD) differing in the quantity of total dietary protein and dairy food-source protein consumed: 30 and 15%, 15 and 7.5%, or 15 and <2% of energy, respectively. Body composition was measured by DXA at 0, 8, and 16 wk and MRI (n = 39) to assess visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume at 0 and 16 wk. All groups lost body weight (P < 0.05) and fat (P < 0.01); however, fat loss during wk 8-16 was greater in the HPHD group than in the APMD and APLD groups (P < 0.05). The HPHD group gained lean tissue with a greater increase during 8-16 wk than the APMD group, which maintained lean mass and the APLD group, which lost lean mass (P < 0.05). The HPHD group also lost more VAT as assessed by MRI (P < 0.05) and trunk fat as assessed by DXA (P < 0.005) than the APLD group. The reduction in VAT in all groups was correlated with intakes of calcium (r = 0.40; P < 0.05) and protein (r = 0.32; P < 0.05). Therefore, diet- and exercise-induced weight loss with higher protein and increased dairy product intakes promotes more favorable body composition changes in women characterized by greater total and visceral fat loss and lean mass gain"
  • Effect of functional yogurt NY-YP901 in improving the trait of metabolic syndrome - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2011 Jun 22 - "This study was aimed to assess the beneficial effects on metabolic syndrome of functional yogurt NY-YP901 (Namyang Dairy Product Co. Ltd and Nutra R&BT Inc., Seoul, Korea) supplemented with mixture of Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium infantis and extra-ingredients containing Bifidobacterium breve (CBG-C2), Enterococcus faecalis FK-23, fibersol-2 and so on ... In the treatment group consuming NY-YP901, statistically significant beneficial changes were observed in body weight (treatment group vs control group=-0.24±1.50 vs +0.64±1.39 kg, P<0.05), BMI (-0.10±0.58 vs +0.24±0.50 kg/m(2), P<0.05 ) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol (-7.71±14.14 vs -0.43±15.32 mg/dl, P<0.05) after 8 weeks. The change in other parameters was not different between the treatment and the control groups.Conclusions:The functional yogurt NY-YP901 reduced LDL-cholesterol, body weight and BMI in the subjects at a 300-ml consumption daily for 8 weeks. From these findings, regular intake of functional yogurt NY-YP901 may be consequently related to improve metabolic syndrome" - So how does that compare as far as active culture to what you actually be able to buy in a local store in the U.S.:
    • Activia Ingredients - livestrong.com - "Activia has Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus and Bifidobacteria lactis, also known as Bifidobacteria regularis"
  • Association between yogurt, milk, and cheese consumption and common carotid artery intima-media thickness and cardiovascular disease risk factors in elderly women - Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 May 25 - "Total dairy product, milk, and cheese consumption was not associated with CCA-IMT (P > 0.05), whereas yogurt consumption was negatively associated with CCA-IMT (unadjusted standardized β = -0.081, P = 0.008; baseline risk factor-adjusted standardized β = -0.075, P = 0.015). Participants who consumed >100 g yogurt/d had a significantly lower CCA-IMT than did participants with lower consumption (unadjusted = -0.024 mm, P = 0.002). This relation remained significant after adjustment for baseline, dietary, and lifestyle risk factors (multivariable analysis = -0.023 mm, P = 0.003) ... Increased consumption of yogurt, but not of other dairy products, is associated with a lower CCA-IMT, independent of other risk factors"
  • Dairy consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis of cohort studies - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2011 May 11 - "A combined RR of 0.86 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.79-0.92) was revealed on T2DM risk associated to dairy intake, with little evidence of heterogeneity. For subgroup analysis, a combined RR was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.74-0.90), 1.00 (95% CI, 0.89-1.10), 0.95 (95% CI, 0.86-1.05) and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.74-0.93) for the intake of low-fat dairy, high-fat dairy, whole milk and yogurt, respectively. Dose-response analysis showed that T2DM risk could be reduced 5% for total dairy products and 10% for low-fat dairy products. Conclusion: An inverse association of daily intake of dairy products, especially low-fat dairy, with T2DM was revealed, indicating a beneficial effect of dairy consumption in the prevention of T2DM development"
  • Yogurt consumption and risk of colorectal cancer in the italian EPIC cohort - Int J Cancer. 2011 May 23 - "Yogurt intake was inversely associated with CRC risk. For the energy-adjusted model, HR for CRC in the highest vs. lowest tertile of yogurt intake was 0.62 (95%CI, 0.46-0.83). In the full model adjusted for energy, simple sugar, calcium, fiber, animal fat, alcohol, and red meat intake, as well as body mass index, smoking, education and physical activity, HR was 0.65 (95%CI, 0.48-0.89) in the highest vs. lowest tertile. The protective effect of yogurt was evident in the entire cohort, but was stronger in men, although there was no interaction of sex with the yogurt-CRC association (P-interaction 0.20, fully-adjusted model). In this prospective study, high yogurt intake was significantly associated with decreased CRC risk, suggesting that yogurt should be part of a diet to prevent the disease"
  • Cultured milk, yogurt, and dairy intake in relation to bladder cancer risk in a prospective study of Swedish women and men - Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Oct;88(4):1083-7 - "Total dairy intake was not significantly associated with risk of bladder cancer [> or =7.0 servings/d compared with < 3.5 servings/d: multivariate rate ratio (RR) = 0.87; 95% CI: 0.66, 1.15; P for trend = 0.33]. However, a statistically significant inverse association was observed for the intake of cultured milk (sour milk and yogurt). The multivariate RRs for the highest category of cultured milk intake (> or =2 servings/d) compared with the lowest category (0 serving/d) were 0.62 (95% CI: 0.46, 0.85; P for trend = 0.006) in women and men combined, 0.55 (95% CI: 0.25, 1.22; P for trend = 0.06) in women, and 0.64 (95% CI: 0.46, 0.89; P for trend = 0.03) in men. The intake of milk or cheese was not associated with bladder cancer risk ... These findings suggest that a high intake of cultured milk may lower the risk of developing bladder cancer"
  • Effects of ingesting Lactobacillus- and Bifidobacterium-containing yogurt in subjects with colonized Helicobacter pylori - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Sep;80(3):737-41 - "Regular intake of yogurt containing Bb12 and La5 effectively suppressed H. pylori infection in humans"