The last Yogurt in Nutrition Initiative for a Balanced Diet (YINI) symposium, « Yogurt : a daily partner for health », was held on the occasion of the III World Congress of Public Health Nutrition, in Las Palmas (Gran Canarias), November 10, 2014.

This meeting was attended by approximately 100 delegates on site and shared by more than 250 event-related messages (#YINI2014) via the YINI’s Twitter account. Enjoy the reading of our fresh symposium report !

Four international professors participated in the event:

• Professor Frans Kok (The Netherlands) discussed the beneficial potential of yogurt in limiting weight gain and reducing the risk of obesity
• Prof. Luis Moreno (Spain) presented data suggesting that milk and yogurt may have the potential to reduce CVD risk factors in adolescents.
• Prof. André Marette (Canada) presented recent evidence about the positive effect of yogurt consumption in reduction of the risk of Type 2 Diabetes
• Prof. Seppo Salminen (Finland) pointed out how the health benefits of yogurt have entered dietary guidelines and recommendations

The International Osteoporosis Foundation, the American Society for Nutrition and Yogurt in Nutrition Initiative for a Balanced Diet have taken a look at the 2015 programs and have identified new themes.  Stay tuned and SEE YOU THERE ON MARCH 28, 2015 during Experimental Biology Conference !

The scientific program

Yogurt consumption and weight management: New findings & perspectives

28 March 2015 (12:45 am-14:45 pm)

1. Welcome and Introduction (10 min) – Sharon Donovan and Raanan Shamir
2. Yogurt consumption & weight in the scientific literature – a protocol driven approach (30 min) – Speaker : Jacqui Eales YHEC
3. Yogurt & weight : New insights on the evidence (30 min) – Speaker : Richard Atkinson
4. Yogurt & weight : Potential mechanisms (30 min) – Speaker : Angelo Tremblay
5. End and conclusion (10 min) – Sharon Donovan and Raanan Shamir

Register here

Studies show that milk and dairy products are very important for children’s health as they contain many nutrients for growth and development. Sufficient amounts of calcium and vitamin D are required during childhood and adolescence because a significant amount of adult bone mass is accrued during this time. Dairy products are a good source of these nutrients as well as other important nutrients. Unfortunately without school-based milk programs, children are not likely getting enough.

By the way, current policies in many schools have led to the removal of flavoured milk because of the amount of added sugar. In this study, researchers used nutrient modelling to replace what was lost when children stopped drinking milk, and found that combinations of foods tested were not feasible due to cost and the number of additional foods needed to replace the missing nutrients.

While some schools may limit access to flavoured milk, presumably due to concerns that these beverages may provide unhealthy levels of added sugars and fat, the study showed that a very low number of children are drinking milk in school, the numbers dropped significantly (41%) when flavoured milk was removed. Additionally, of the students who chose plain milk there was a greater amount of milk wasted. Given children’s preferential intake of chocolate milk or yogurt as an healthy alternative further studies into whether children will accept lower sugar formulations need to be investigated.

Source: Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism

May this Christmas end the present year on a cheerful note and make way for a fresh and bright new year. Here’s wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

– The YINI TEAM

Prof. Seppo Salminen (University of Turku / Finland) unveiled dietary guidelines for dairy and yogurt consumption and the growing interest in evidence-based recommendations by government bodies. Watch now the slideshow.

“Our data suggest that yogurt and milk can play a key role in fighting obesity and CVD in adolescents,” says Professor Luis A. Moreno from the University of Zaragoza in Spain, who presented the findings at the III World Congress of Public Health Nutrition in Spain. Watch now the slideshow.

Evidence is mounting that consuming yogurt in particular as part of a healthy diet helps to prevent type 2 diabetes and other cardiometabolic risk factors, with one of the most recent studies suggesting that people who regularly eat yogurt are almost 30% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who do not.

Speaking to public health officials at the III World Congress of Public Health Nutrition in Spain, Dr André Marette from the Heart and Lung Institute of Laval Hospital in Quebec, Canada, said it was time to recognize the all-round health benefits of yogurt and encourage more people to eat yogurt on a daily basis. Watch now the slideshow.

Speaking to public health officials at the III World Congress of Public Health Nutrition in Spain, Professor Frans J Kok from the Division of Human Nutrition at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, underlined the potentially unique role of daily yogurt consumption for weight management.

He also highlighted the need for randomized controlled trials and mechanistic studies to help understand how this might occur. Watch now the slideshow.

The aim of this study was to clarify whether these effects can be seen in the long-term on systolic BP, diastolic BP, and the risk of hypertension in adults in the Framingham Offspring Study. 1,351 volunteers with no history of cardiovascular disease were followed for a period of over 11 years by means of two diet histories assessing their intake of dietary proteins, adjusted according to their body weight. Higher protein intakes were associated with lower diastolic and systolic BP.

Overall, higher protein intakes also significantly lowered the risk of high BP by almost 40%. Furthermore, when high protein intake was combined with high fibre intake, the risk of high BP was even lower (by 59%).

Lastly, analysis of the different protein fractions shows that risk is also reduced with consumption of both animal and plant proteins in isolation, by 32% and 49% respectively.

Source: Buendia JR et al. Am J Hypertens 2014; doi: 10.1093/ajh/hpu15. First published online: September 6, 2014