The Benefits of Yogurt

Most people know that yogurt is a healthy food to eat.  Not only is it a dairy food supplying calcium and usually vitamin D, it also provides probiotics – or beneficial bacteria.   Now research links eating yogurt to lower blood pressure.  Researchers at Tufts’ Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging  has found that eating yogurt, even if you eat it only a couple of times a week, can help lower your risk of developing high blood pressure.  Dr. Wang and colleagues studied 2,197 adults as part of the Framingham Heart Study’s cohort.  All of these adults were free from hypertension at the start of the study.  They were followed for 14 years, during which 913 of the study participants developed high blood pressure.  Who was less likely to develop high blood pressure?  Participants who ate yogurt, at least a serving every three days. 

What yogurt is best?  Low fat, low sugar yogurts are the healthier choices.  

When teaching nutrition classes, I always recommend eating yogurt as a healthy food choice.  Helping to prevent high blood pressure is just one more reason to add yogurt to our diets. 

(source:  “Eating Yogurt Linked to Lower Risk of High Blood Pressure”, Health and Nutrition Letter, Tufts University, Jan. 2013.)