Nutritional Benefits of Yoghurt
One of the great all time television commercial aired in the late 1970s and featured an interview with the Russian centagenerian who claimed that his longevity was due to his daily consumption of yoghurt.
Indeed, the popularity of yoghurt as implied by this advertisement in large part, to the purported health benefits ascribed to yoghurt consumption.
In fact, this notion of yoghurt as an elixir that fends off aging and promotes human health originated at least a century ago, when Russian immunologists and Noble laureate Elie Metchnikoff published The Prolongation of Life in 1906.
Of course yoghurt has nutritional properties other than those derived form the culture organisms.
A single 170 g (6 ounce) serving of plain, nonfat yoghurt contains about 170 calories and supplies 18% of the Daily Value requirements for protein, 30% for calcium and 20% for vitamin B12.
Still, these are the same nutrient levels one would get from milk (provided one had accounted for the milk solids normally added to the yoghurt mix).
Although there are reports that yoghurt contains more vitamins than the milk form which it was made (due to microbial biosynthesis), these increases do not appear to be significant.
Thus, of indeed yoghurt has an enhanced nutritional quality compared to milk, those differences must be due to the microorganisms found in yoghurt.
As noted earlier, there are many health claims ascribed to yogurt, and especially the probiotic bacteria added as nutritional adjuncts.
Among these claims are that these bacteria are anti-cholesterolemic and anti-tumorigenic, enhance mineral absorption, promote gastrointestinal health, and reduce the incidence of enteric infections.
Perhaps the health benefits that most generally accepted is the claim that yoghurt organisms can reduce the symptoms associated with lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance is a condition that is characterized by the inability of certain individuals to digest lactose.
Nutritional Benefits of Yoghurt
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