4 facts about yogurt

Yogurt makes a light and healthful snack, cooking ingredient or base for dips. If you want to find out more about this great dairy staple, read on for a full rundown.

To make yogurt, you add pure cultures of bacteria to pasteurized milk. You allow it to ferment until to reaches your desired acidity then you stop it by cooling it in the fridge.

• Mixed cultures consume the milk sugar, or lactose, for energy and excretes lactic acid, which curdles the milk.
• If you want it to be thicker, you can add dried milk solids, gelatin or other ingredients.
• The end product reflects the fat, mineral and vitamin content of the raw material, whether it be whole or skim milk.
• Yogurt only has one to two-thirds the amount of lactose found in milk, and therefore is more easily digested by people with intolerance to milk.

Yogurt is a healthful food and a good source of minerals and vitamins. What's more, yogurts that contain live or "active" bacteria cultures may help suppress the growth of harmful microorganisms in the body.

• Yogurt is useful in restoring normal intestinal flora, the beneficial organisms that inhabit the intestinal tract.
• In a way it doesn’t matter who’s right because eating yogurt when taking antibiotics does no harm and may well be helpful.

Useful tips
Yogurt or any fermented milk product must contain 100 million bacteria per dose to be effective. It should be absolutely fresh and contain live cultures of acidophilus or bifidobacteria, preferably both.

Products that are heavily pasteurized or have been in the refrigerator for a long time will have very few active bacteria.

An excellent quick snack and a versatile dessert, yogurt can be served chilled or frozen, plain or flavoured. Take a look at these yogurt facts:

• Low-fat frozen yogurt contains only 110 calories in a 300 millilitres serving and gives almost the same pleasure as ice cream, with fewer calories and no saturated fats.
• Because yogurt contains the same amount of fat as the milk it was made with, low-fat yogurt is good for people on a low-fat diet.
• A 240 millilitre serving of plain yogurt made with whole milk contains 140 calories, compared to 150 calories for the same-size glass of whole milk.

You know yogurt is good for you but do you know how exactly? Check out these nutritional facts about yogurt:

• A 240 millilitre serving of plain yogurt contains 415 milligrams of calcium, about 530 milligrams of potassium and two milligrams of zinc, with 24 milligrams of cholesterol.
• Vitamins include 1.2 micrograms of vitamin B12, 30 micrograms of folate and 0.5 milligrams of riboflavin.
• Calorie content rises considerably with the addition of sweeteners and fruit purees.
• Nonfat yogurt sweetened with aspartame is the least calorie-laden, but this sweetener is not recommended for children and is unsafe for people with phenylketonuria Custard-type yogurts are thickened with pectin, gelatin, cornstarch or alginate or seaweed thickeners.
• These ingredients do not make a substantial difference to the nutritional content, but people hypersensitive to corn and other additives should check labels carefully.
• Goat's milk yogurts are made with whole goat's milk, which adds a sharp flavour.
• Yogurt can be made at home by mixing a few spoonfuls of commercial yogurt made with live cultures into low-fat milk and leaving the covered mixture overnight at lukewarm or room temperature.

Yogurt fits the bill for a lot of health needs. These tips will help you use this tasty food best in your diet.