Yogurt: nonfat or sweetened?

When I was a kid it was well known that the oldest people on earth lived in remote mountain areas on a diet high in yogurt. Perhaps it was just a legend, but now that we are overrun by frozen yogurt stores, the good news is that Greek-style yogurt sales have doubled nationally in the past year, even as regular yogurt sales have dipped, and health-conscious dieters are the reason. Greek yogurt is really plain yogurt (and not necessarily Greek) but strained to remove a lot of the water.

When I checked in our fridge, I found we have the following nonfat yogurts: French Village, Greek Style Vanilla and Karoun Mediterranean Style. We also have Karoun Dairies Labne Kefir Cheese, which is the only one with the thick creamy texture of “Greek yogurt,” which we eat instead of cream cheese due to its lower fat and cholesterol and higher calcium content. They all use live cultures of Lactobacillus acidophilus, thermophiles, bugaricus, casei, rhamnosus, bifidobacterium (they are live because they are cultured after pasteurization) and they use no growth hormone rBST. Most of these come from Trader Joes or the ethnic markets. We often use yogurt as the primary source of protein with vegetarian meals.

Yogurt in the US has been synonymous with flavored highly sweet desserts. It is unclear how many people have ever bought plain yogurt or know what it tastes like. But things are changing. There is no question that yogurt is good for us – unless you are lactose intolerant or allergic to dairy. One recent study suggested that using only semi-skimmed milk and low-fat yogurt may be connected to a higher allergy risk. Plain yogurt in itself may be no universal panacea but the medical/health establishment is pretty much supportive of the claim that it builds healthy probiotic bacteria in the gut. A calm and peaceful stomach and intestine sounds good to me.

Photo credit: Rainer Zenz/Wikipedia