Yogurt: From Health Food to Junk Food

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Who hasn’t heard about the health benefits of yogurt? Most people associate it with probiotics, protein, and calcium.

However, the modern commercial yogurts available in the market today are a far cry from the health food we used to know.

Instead of being a nutritious snack, they’ve become more similar to dessert puddings, loaded with added starches and excessive amounts of sugar. What happened?

Let’s take a closer look at modern yogurt manufacturing, and find out what on earth we’re consuming with these yogurts.

How yogurt is made

Yogurt is a cultured dairy product that is made from milk. The process of making yogurt involves adding live bacteria cultures to milk, which causes the milk to ferment and thicken into yogurt.

Here are the basic steps involved in making yogurt from milk:

1. Heat the milk: The first step is to heat the milk to a temperature between 85°C to 90°C (185°F to 194°F) for a few minutes. This helps to denature the milk proteins and kill any harmful bacteria that may be present in the milk.
2. Cool the milk: The heated milk is then cooled down to a temperature between 40°C to 45°C (104°F to 113°F). This is the ideal temperature range for the bacteria cultures to thrive and ferment the milk.
3. Add starter culture: A small amount of starter culture, which contains live bacteria cultures such as Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, is added to the milk. The starter culture inoculates the milk with the bacteria needed to ferment it into yogurt.
4. Incubate the mixture: The milk and starter culture mixture is then incubated for several hours, typically between 4 to 12 hours, at a temperature between 40°C to 45°C (104°F to 113°F). During this time, the bacteria ferment the lactose in the milk, producing lactic acid, which causes the milk to thicken and become tangy.
5. Chill and store: Once the yogurt has reached the desired thickness and tanginess, it is chilled to stop the fermentation process. The finished yogurt can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.

Problems with modern yogurt

Although traditional yogurt making creates a yogurt that is highly nutritious, modern commercial yogurt, especially those catered towards a wider audience, can have several problems associated with them. Here are some of the most common ones:

• High sugar content: Many commercial yogurts are loaded with added sugars to make them more palatable. This can lead to a high intake of calories and contribute to health problems like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
• Low-quality ingredients: Some commercial yogurts may use low-quality ingredients, such as milk from cows that have been given hormones or antibiotics. Additionally, they may contain artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives that can be harmful to health.
• Lack of live cultures: Some commercial yogurts may be heat-treated or pasteurized after the fermentation process, which can kill off the live cultures that provide the health benefits of yogurt. Additionally, some brands may only use a small number of bacterial strains, which can limit the diversity of beneficial bacteria in the yogurt.
• Thickeners and stabilizers: To improve the texture and consistency of commercial yogurts, many brands use thickeners and stabilizers like pectin, gelatin, and cornstarch. While these ingredients can make the yogurt smoother and creamier, they may also have negative health effects and can reduce the nutritional value of the yogurt.
• Overprocessing: Modern commercial yogurt production involves several industrial processes, including pasteurization and homogenization, which can result in overprocessing of the milk. This can lead to a loss of nutrients and a decline in the overall quality of the yogurt.

Examples

Take a look at the nutritional information of some popular brands. Strawberry flavored Activia, Raspberry flavored Oikos Greek yogurt, Astro Original All-Natural fruit flavored yogurt, IOGO fruit flavored yogurt.

All these popular brands contain a whopping 10 to 13 grams of sugar per container, and some have even more. As you can see, this is not an insignificant amount of sugar.

To put this into perspective, that’s equivalent to the total sugar content in a whole blueberry muffin.

That’s also about the same amount of sugar if you were to fill one of these yogurt containers with soda. That right, your favorite flavored yogurts may contain as much sugar per volume as soda or pop.

To make matters worse, many brands of yogurt contain added starches, which are often used to thicken the yogurt and give it a creamy texture. These refined starches, just like the sugars, are quickly converted into sugar in the bloodstream.

As a result, over half the calories in each container of yogurt come from these refined sugar and starch additives alone.

And if that’s not bad enough, many of these brands also include artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives, and some even rely on a variety of artificial sweeteners if they don’t use as much sugar.

Long-term studies have linked these artificial sweeteners to a host of health problems, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Yogurt myths

Yogurt and probiotics?

Did you know that most commercial yogurts claiming to have “Active bacterial cultures” as an ingredient might not actually contain any significant amount of probiotics?

While these cultures may have been active before processing, usually there won’t be many probiotics left unless the manufacturer adds probiotics back into the yogurt after heat treatment.

So, don’t be fooled by the label! Just because a yogurt claims to have active cultures in the ingredients doesn’t mean it necessarily has any appreciable amount of active probiotics by the time it hits the shelves.

Also it’s a common misconception that all probiotics are created equal. Yogurt is made using two strains of bacteria: Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus.

As great as these two strains are for yogurt-making, there isn’t any good research that suggests that these particular strains are useful for human health.

The most beneficial probiotic strains for health are not typically found in most yogurts unless they’ve been purposely added in. Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because something may have probiotics, it must benefit your health.

Misleading health claims

But you’re not going to find that information anywhere on the packaging. In fact, back in 2007 you might find quite the opposite.

Dannon had been selling Activia and DanActive yogurt products, touting them as scientifically and clinically proven to regulate digestion and boost immune systems because of a probiotic they added into these yogurts.

But these claims were far from being scientifically proven, and in 2009, Dannon settled a massive consumer class action lawsuit that alleged that their claims were completely unsubstantiated.

As part of the settlement, Dannon had to remove the words “clinically proven,” “immunity,” and “scientifically proven” from its packaging and ads.

The probiotic Dannon used was Bifidobacterium animalis DN-173 010. But Dannon, in quite an ingenious marketing ploy, renamed it to Bifidus Regularis or Bifidus Digestivum, to make consumers think these bacteria were more helpful than they actually were with these scientific-sounding names.

The probiotic lacked any good evidence that it could actually help to “regulate digestion” or do anything for immunity.

To make matters worse, both yogurts sold at a 30 percent premium over other brands all based on these unproven assertions.

Is yogurt always healthy?

Misleading and implied health claims in yogurt advertisements are a deceptive tactic that the industry employs to boost sales and fatten their bottom line – all at the expense of consumer well-being.

Despite the FTC’s crackdown on many of these deceptive practices, the insidious myth that all yogurt is a healthy food or great for weight loss continues to persist. This myth lures consumers into believing that any yogurt product is a healthy option, even yogurts that may be high in sugar and other additives.

Take for example, low-fat or 0% fat yogurt. A common implied health claim is that these products are fat-free, so they must be a healthy option for weight loss or weight management.

However, many low-fat and fat-free yogurt products are actually high in sugar and refined starch, which can contribute to weight gain, rather than help you to lose weight.

Best yogurt for health

So are you a yogurt lover but worried about all the added sugar in your favorite store-bought brands? Well, there are solutions.

While plain yogurt can significantly decrease the sugar content, it’s still tough to find a brand with enough viable probiotics, without the added starches, binders, or other sneaky additives.

Most people would just tell you to check the ingredients and nutrition label, but let’s face it, natural yogurt with added probiotics, and no additives or preservatives can be pricey and hard to come by.

So, what’s the answer? Well, you might be better off making your own yogurt. It’s really not as difficult as it sounds, and you don’t need fancy equipment to get started. I prefer using an Instant Pot because it’s easy, but any kitchen appliance will do.

Once you have your homemade yogurt, you can customize it to your liking with fruits, nuts, granola, or even a drizzle of honey. The best part? You’re in complete control of the ingredients, so you can keep the sugar content in check.

Let’s be crystal clear: sugar-laden flavored yogurts are not a healthy food choice, no matter how enticing their packaging may seem. It’s high time that the FDA takes a stand and holds any food manufacturers accountable for their misleading claims of being a “healthy” food when, in reality, they are anything but.

As consumers, we have the right to demand transparency and truthfulness in labeling, and we cannot settle for anything less.

Learn more about

• Which Probiotics are BEST for Weight Loss?
• Yogurt vs Greek Yogurt for Weight Loss
• Other foods for weight loss

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