Yogurt and health: a focus on its matrix

Abstract

Research and clinical experience in nutrition have emphasized the merits of some dietary patterns, e.g., the Mediterranean diet, to obtain health-related benefits. This has also been the case of specific foods such as yogurt which has been tested using different approaches and under various conditions. As described in this paper, there is a quasi-consensus among population studies about the protective relationship of regular yogurt consumption with incidence of overweight and type 2 diabetes. This is concordant with laboratory-based experimentation and clinical trials showing that yogurt consumption induces favorable effects on many key components of metabolic homeostasis and energy balance. The benefits of yogurt consumption also seem to be partly explained by its status of fermented food which involves the influence of yogurt on the gut microbiota and the reciprocal role of some bacterial-derived molecules on metabolic regulation. In clinical nutrition, novel education approaches benefit from the versatility of yogurt and its high nutrient density to promote healthy eating behaviors and habits as well as cardiometabolic benefits. In summary, yogurt, especially plain yogurt, should be part of healthy eating habits because of its high nutritional value, its flexible food matrix, its beneficial bacterial components, and its versatility under usual feeding conditions.

Keywords: Dairy; diabetes; microbiota; nutrition; obesity.