Low-fat yoghurt is a creamy food with a sour taste, prepared with skimmed milk curdled by bacteria, in particular Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus.

It can be produced with animal milk or soya milk.  

It is a probiotic that can be recommended as a therapeutic agent for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (1).

The potential benefits induced by probiotics in metabolic disorders are increasingly evident and this study has analyzed, for this purpose, the data from 1999 to 2014 of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. In this large-scale study, ingestion of probiotic supplements or yogurt was associated with a lower prevalence of obesity and hypertension (2).

Commercial yoghurts contain specific probiotics and vital yoghurt cultures are present in adequate quantities. Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and obesity are risks for cardiometabolic diseases. The components of the paste represent the primary factors responsible for the cardioprotective effect of yoghurt (3).

These results suggest that habitual consumption may improve glucose and insulin responses in non-diabetic individuals who have genetically superior postprandial plasma glucose (4) and may therefore be considered an antidiabetic food.

Yogurt studies

References________________________________________________________________________

(1) Zhang S, Fu J, Zhang Q, Liu L, Lu M, Meng G, Yao Z, Wu H, Xia Y, Bao X, Gu Y, Sun S, Wang X, Zhou M, Jia Q, Song K, Wu Y, Xiang H, Niu K. Association between habitual yogurt consumption and newly diagnosed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.   Eur J Clin Nutr. 2019 Sep 2. doi: 10.1038/s41430-019-0497-7.

Abstract. Background/objectives: Many studies have suggested that probiotics may be applied as a therapeutic agent for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, the effects of frequent yogurt consumption (as a natural probiotic source) on NAFLD remain poorly understood. This study was to examine the association of habitual yogurt consumption with newly diagnosed NAFLD in the general adult population.....Conclusion: Higher yogurt consumption was inversely associated with the prevalence of newly diagnosed NAFLD. These results are needed to be confirmed in randomized controlled trials or prospective studies.

(2) Lau E, Neves JS, Ferreira-Magalhães M, Carvalho D, Freitas P. Probiotic Ingestion, Obesity, and Metabolic-Related Disorders: Results from NHANES, 1999-2014. Nutrients. 2019 Jun 28;11(7). pii: E1482. doi: 10.3390/nu11071482.

Abstract. Gut microbiota dysbiosis has been recognized as having key importance in obesity- and metabolic-related diseases. Although there is increasing evidence of the potential benefits induced by probiotics in metabolic disturbances, there is a lack of large cross-sectional studies to assess population-based prevalence of probiotic intake and metabolic diseases. Our aim was to evaluate the association of probiotic ingestion with obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. A cross-sectional study was designed using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1999-2014. Probiotic ingestion was considered when a subject reported consumption of yogurt or a probiotic supplement during the 24-hour dietary recall or during the Dietary Supplement Use 30-Day questionnaire. We included 38,802 adults and 13.1% reported probiotic ingestion. The prevalence of obesity and hypertension was lower in the probiotic group (obesity-adjusted Odds Ratio (OR): 0.84, 95% CI 0.76-0.92, p < 0.001; hypertension-adjusted OR: 0.79, 95% CI 0.71-0.88, p < 0.001). Accordingly, even after analytic adjustments, body mass index (BMI) was significantly lower in the probiotic group, as were systolic and diastolic blood pressure and triglycerides; high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was significantly higher in the probiotic group for the adjusted model. In this large-scale study, ingestion of probiotic supplements or yogurt was associated with a lower prevalence of obesity and hypertension.

(3) Fernandez MA, Panahi S, Daniel N, Tremblay A, Marette A.  Yogurt and Cardiometabolic Diseases: A Critical Review of Potential Mechanisms.  Fernandez MA, Panahi S, Daniel N, Tremblay A, Marette A.  Adv Nutr. 2017 Nov 15;8(6):812-829. doi: 10.3945/an.116.013946.

(4) Watanabe D, Kuranuki S, Sunto A, Matsumoto N, Nakamura T. Daily Yogurt Consumption Improves Glucose Metabolism and Insulin Sensitivity in Young Nondiabetic Japanese Subjects with Type-2 Diabetes Risk Alleles. Nutrients. 2018 Nov 29;10(12):1834. doi: 10.3390/nu10121834. 

Abstract. This study investigated whether the association between postprandial plasma glucose (PPG) is affected by five type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) susceptibility genes, and whether four weeks of yogurt consumption would affect these responses. We performed a single-arm intervention study in young nondiabetic Japanese participants, who consumed 150 g yogurt daily for four weeks, after which a rice test meal containing 50 g carbohydrate was administered. PPG and postprandial serum insulin (PSI) were measured between 0 and 120 mins at baseline and after the intervention. Genetic risk was evaluated by weighted genetic risk score (GRS) according to published methodology, and participants were assigned to one of two groups (n = 17: L-GRS group and n = 15: H-GRS group) according to the median of weighted GRS. At baseline, the H-GRS group had higher glucose area under the curve0⁻120 min after intake of the test meal than the L-GRS group (2175 ± 248 mg/dL.min vs. 1348 ± 199 mg/dL.min, p < 0.001), but there were no significant differences after the yogurt intervention. However, there was an improvement in PSI in the H-GRS group compared with baseline. These results suggest that habitual yogurt consumption may improve glucose and insulin responses in nondiabetic subjects who have genetically higher PPG.