Eng
Subscribe

Recent posts

28 Jan 2019
•
6 min read
Benefits for planet health

Are you eating a sustainable diet?

chicago consensus global warming food system sustainability sustainable diet
Related posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
Table of contents
Table of contents

As you sit down to your next tasty meal, pause for a moment before you tuck in. Consider the vast network of activities, resources and people that have played a part in your food’s journey to your table.

The interconnected web of resources crucial for providing our nourishment and sustaining health is known as our food system. It includes agricultural production, processing, packaging, distribution, marketing, consumption and even disposal of food.

The food system has evolved in response to our demand for food to be healthy, safe, affordable, and appealing. And now we’re increasingly wanting foods that have been produced without damaging the environment.

That’s because our food system is under pressure from climate change and the burgeoning global population. It’s vulnerable to nations’ economies and political upheaval, such as war. Feeding the world in the face of these changes poses a complex set of challenges that is leaving the experts scratching their heads.

Experts call for fresh approach to sustainable food research

Now a group of international experts has pointed to an urgent need to step up research into sustainability and has called for a troupe of specially trained professionals to consider everything that influences the food system, from environmental health and geography to business and politics. They must work out how to make our diet sustainable, balancing environmental impact with health outcomes. In fact, they must solve the puzzle of how to ensure everyone around the world can enjoy good nutrition to sustain health – for generations to come.

What is a sustainable diet?

In a consensus from a meeting in Chicago, USA, the authors describe sustainable diets as those that have a low environmental impact and that contribute to safe and affordable access to food and to healthy life for the current and future generations.

‘Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable, nutritionally adequate, safe, and healthy, while optimizing natural and human resources.’ – Drewnowski A et al, 2018.

A sustainable food system is defined in the Chicago consensus as a system characterised by agricultural productivity, diversity of food supply, the economic accessibility of food to consumers, use of natural resources for agriculture, and urbanisation of the population living from the system.

Sustainable food systems are under threat

The consensus comes amid growing concerns that global food production relies increasingly on intensive agricultural practices which can deplete natural resources, including land, water, and energy. These risks to sustainability can be exacerbated by global warming and climate change, say the authors.

But the environmental impact of food is only part of the sustainable food story, they warn. Health, economics and society also play key roles in a sustainable food system. Research will need to examine the trade-off between these components arising from changes to the food system; for example, beneficial effects on the environment could come at a cost to health outcomes.

‘Nourishing the global population, estimated at 9 billion by year 2050, will test food system sustainability and resilience.’ – Drewnowski A et al, 2018.

Are healthy diets also good for the planet?

Measuring diet quality in relation to environmental impact and health outcomes is therefore a crucial part of the ongoing sustainability dilemma. And while sustainable nutrition must reduce hunger and undernutrition across the world, it should also reduce the risk of obesity and associated chronic diseases, say the authors.

However, large gaps in our knowledge of how the food system is linked to nutrition and health are hindering experts’ ability to predict how changes to the food system will impact on our health. These gaps need to be plugged through an international collaboration between scientists from all backgrounds connected to the food system, from agricultural to health and environmental – with a scope that reaches governments, and industry as well as the scientific world.

Vegetarian diets may not hold the answer

One key question the researchers need to address is whether we should all switch from livestock, especially beef and dairy cows, to plant-based diets. Meat and dairy production take up more land and water resources than other foods and add to greenhouse gases, say the authors. But pasture makes up most of the world’s agricultural land, and livestock is a major livelihood across the world. Sweeping changes in consumer behaviour is a tall order, say the authors.

Then there’s the nutritional value of these foods to consider. Especially for people living in poorer countries, meat, fish and dairy foods are vital sources of high-quality protein and certain vital vitamins that they can’t get so easily from plant-based diets, say the authors.

Research needs to establish whether the environmental cost of livestock is outweighed by its higher nutritional value, and how much the efficiency of livestock production can be improved while reducing impact on the environment.

Modelling effects on sustainable food systems

Further studies are also needed on how global warming and catastrophic weather events may affect our food system, including crops, food transport and storage, prices, perhaps leading to social unrest. Concerns about over-use of pesticides and fertilisers should also be addressed, say the authors.

Better understanding of such influences will allow researchers to model challenges such as global warming or economic pressures, and so test how resilient our food system is to such threats. Modelling will also help foresee the effects on nutrition and health of making changes to our food system, say the authors.

The four dimensions of a sustainable food system

The authors of the Chicago consensus have identified four key components to a sustainable diet, each requiring its own research measures:

  1. The health dimension – the quality and safety of the food supply. Research needs to develop ways to measure how nutrient-rich, safe, accessible, and appealing foods are. We also need to analyse the effect of people’s eating patterns on nutritional status, disease risk and population health.
  2. The economic dimension – the effect on prices on food supply and demand. This means collecting data on food produced by local smallholders as well as large corporations, and the effects of economic policies in each region. Food affordability should be measured in terms of calories and nutrients per unit cost.
  3. The societal dimension – cultural, social, and religious factors that drive food choices. Studies should examine food-related attitudes and behaviours. Cultural acceptance of foods by region should be measured by how often people eat those foods.
  4. The environmental dimension – the impact of the food system on land, water, and energy use, at both local and global levels. This includes assessing how resilient the food system is to environmental stresses such as extreme weather, climate change, and decline in resources. It also includes the influence of antibiotic use in food production and its effect on our health. The environmental costs of farming and food production have been measured partly through greenhouse gas emissions, shown as carbon dioxide equivalents per kilogram of food, say the authors.
Find out more: read the original article.
Source: Drewnowski A; Ecosystem Inception Team. The Chicago Consensus on sustainable food systems science. Front Nutr. 2018 Apr 25;4:74.
Related Posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
21 Jan 2019
•
3 min read
•
by YINI Editorial team
Other studies

Questions remain over the link between dairy products and acne

YINI Editorial team
The YINI team includes nutritionists, food engineers, registered dietitians and scientific writers.
Acne dairy products diet
Related posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
Table of contents
Table of contents

Acne can make young folks’ lives a misery just when they’re at their most image-conscious. Tackling it remains a challenge, not least because we still don’t know for sure what triggers it. This latest analysis sheds light on the link between acne and a chief suspect – dairy products – but concludes that further research is needed to reveal the true picture.

The analysis shows that you’re more likely to have acne if you drink milk, for example, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that drinking milk actually causes acne, the authors point out.

Acne most commonly affects children and adolescents aged 12–24 years, but it can spring up at any time of life. It tends to run in families and it’s usually linked to changes in hormone levels at puberty. But It has long been suggested that the Western diet, or certain foods, may play a part in contributing to the problem.

Investigating the role of diet in the development of acne

In particular, the finger of suspicion has pointed at dairy products. Amino acids derived from milk induce the making of a hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1, that has been implicated in acne.

That’s why several studies have been carried out around the world to look at the possible link between dairy intake and acne in children and young people. In this analysis of these studies, the authors aimed to estimate the association of acne in children, adolescents, and young adults with their consumption of dairy products.

They included 14 studies involving a total of 178,529 children, adolescents and young adults – of whom 23,046 had acne.

Results showed that intake of dairy of any sort – milk, full-fat dairy, whole milk, low-fat/skim milk, and yogurt – was associated with a higher likelihood of acne compared to no intake.

Intake of cheese was associated with a borderline higher likelihood for acne compared to no intake.

When the authors looked specifically at frequency of intake, they found that drinking one glass of milk per day was associated with higher odds for acne, whereas 2–6 glasses per week was not, when compared with drinking one glass or less a week.

Studies should be viewed with caution

However, results should be interpreted with caution because of differences in the way the studies have been designed, warn the authors.

Not all studies used validated food questionnaires and some relied on the participants reporting that they had acne, rather than confirming the diagnosis by a doctor. The prevalence of acne varied widely between the studies, from 7% to 89%.

It was also difficult to rule out influences from other foods or lifestyle factors, say the authors.

Further research is needed to fill the knowledge gap

The authors conclude that dairy products do seem to be associated with an increased likelihood of acne in children and young people, but further research is needed to clarify this relationship as it’s difficult to draw firm conclusions from the studies to date.

So, we still don’t know whether dairy intake is in some way causing acne and whether it can make acne worse, or whether avoiding dairy products would prevent acne. Unravelling the true story will need large, carefully-designed trials, the authors say.

‘… there is still a knowledge gap with respect to whether dairy intake is causally associated with acne, acne flare, or acne severity and to what extent.’ – Juhl CR et al, 2018.

Find out more: read the original article.

Source: Juhl CR, Bergholdt HKM, Miller IM, et al. Dairy Intake and Acne Vulgaris: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 78,529 Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults. Nutrients. 2018 Aug 9;10(8)

YINI Editorial team
The YINI team includes nutritionists, food engineers, registered dietitians and scientific writers.
Related Posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
14 Jan 2019
•
4 min read
Healthy Diets & Lifestyle

Breakfast in America – with fruit and yogurt as part of a healthy diet

breakfast diet fruits healthy eating
Related posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
Table of contents
Table of contents

Take a look at your breakfast. Are you grabbing something as you rush out of the house – anything to keep hunger at bay until you have time for a mid-morning snack? Or are you sitting down to a relaxed, healthy meal of fruit and yogurt?

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, experts say. Yet many of us skip breakfast because we’re pushed for time at that crucial hour of the morning. Some scientists warn that missing breakfast can lead to people choosing unhealthy snacks later in the day and so piling on the pounds. That doesn’t mean an early morning fry-up is the order of the day. A large US study has identified several healthy foods, including yogurt, as a good start to your day.

Choosing healthy foods at breakfast time can be a challenge when you’re in a hurry to get on with your day. Despite impressive health claims, many breakfast cereals are loaded with sugar and fat.

The International Breakfast Research Initiative (IBRI) was a study conducted in Canada, Denmark, France, Spain, the UK and the USA that examined people’s breakfast food choices and identified the foods that we should be eating as part of a healthy breakfast. The authors of this article describe the study results for the USA, including data from over 14,000 children and adults.

Unhealthy breakfast habits are common

Nearly 20% of the US population skips breakfast. Young children and older adults are most likely to eat breakfast. In contrast, adolescents and young adults are least likely to eat breakfast, with 25% giving it a miss. Adults with a higher income or a college degree are most likely to eat breakfast.

Typical breakfast foods for children in the USA are milk, baked products and sweets. Adult breakfast foods include coffee/tea, sweets, fats and white bread.

Why is breakfast important?

Breakfast can be considered a nutrient-rich meal as long as it provides more nutrients than calories, say the authors.

Among those who ate breakfast in this US study, breakfast accounted for about 20% of daily energy intake. It provided just under 20% of daily protein and fats and 25% of total sugars.

However, it also provided more than 20% of the daily requirements for a host of vitamins and minerals, including B vitamins, vitamins A and D, folate, calcium, iron, potassium and magnesium.

“Even though the typical US breakfast provided more nutrients than calories, there was room for improvement in breakfast quality.” – Drewnowski et al, 2018.

Eating breakfast is associated with a better diet quality

Eating breakfast was associated with a healthier all-round diet, the authors found. Children and older adults had the healthiest diets, and adolescents had the least healthy diets.  In adults, diet quality greatly improved with the level of education and with household incomes.

People who had the best diet quality consumed more fruit and juices, whole-grain products, milk and yogurt at breakfast time. They also ate less meat and eggs and less added sugars and fats than people with the least healthy diets.

“…higher-quality diets were associated with higher consumption of citrus fruit, juice and other fruits, whole grains and milk and yogurt.” – Drewnowski et al, 2018.

Dietary guidelines should consider breakfast patterns

The authors conclude that the results of this study, showing that the optimum breakfast consisting of fruit and juice, whole grain cereals and milk and yogurt, have implications for future dietary guidelines. It’s important to consider food choices and patterns, rather than focusing solely on the nutrient content of foods. And while the American breakfast does tend to be a nutrient-dense meal, there’s still room for improvement, the authors say.

Find out more: read the original article.

Source: Drewnowski A, Rehm CD, Vieux F. Breakfast in the United States: Food and nutrient intakes in relation to diet quality in National Health and Examination Survey 2011–2014. A study from the International Breakfast Research Initiative. Nutrients 2018;10(9).

Related Posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
10 Jan 2019
•
1 min read
Monthly newsletter

Yogurt with live cultures can contribute to gut health

Related posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
Table of contents
Table of contents

Read the newsletter

Related Posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
07 Jan 2019
•
5 min read
Fermentation benefits

Which fermented foods contain the most ‘friendly’ bacteria?

fermentation fermented dairy Fermented food ferments Lactic bacteria
Related posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
Table of contents
Table of contents

Choosing fermented foods such as yogurt can be a great way for us to ingest ‘friendly’ live bacteria that may be associated with health benefits. But not all fermented foods contain live microbes and when they do, the numbers of these tiny life forms can vary hugely between products, say the authors of this article.

Fermentation has long been used to prolong the shelf life of foods and in some cases improve their taste. But more recently we’ve begun to learn about the role fermented foods with live microbes may play in promoting our health.

Many of the microbes found in fermented foods can survive as they travel through the gut to the bowel. Here they mingle with the vast microbe community that naturally inhabits our gut and, even though they’re only passing through, they can modulate this community to give us a healthy boost. Studies have shown the potential health benefits of fermented foods such as yogurt may include lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes and of cardiovascular diseases.

We all know that live yogurt contains loads of these friendly bacteria but we’re generally in the dark when it comes to knowing the actual amounts of live organisms in various different fermented foods – which could be key to determining their health benefits.

Discovering the microbe content of fermented foods

So to find out more, the authors looked at over 140 studies that have calculated the numbers of live organisms in the most commonly consumed fermented foods, mainly those available in our shops. They included fermented foods that are popular in different regions of the world, from cultured dairy products, fermented sausage and vegetables, to soy-based and cereal-based fermented foods.

Results showed that many fermented foods are a good source of live microbes, particularly lactic acid bacteria (LAB) – including species that have been associated with health benefits. However, the number of microbes in fermented foods varied widely according to the type of food, the region it came from, and for how long it had been stored before it was tested.

Fresher products such as yogurt and other cultured dairy products tended to have higher levels of friendly live bacteria than older cheeses, for example.

Yogurts and other dairy products can have high levels of bacteria

All the yogurts in the survey contained the two yogurt culture organisms (Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus) at levels ranging from <104 to 109 cfu (colony-forming units, used to estimate viable bacteria) per gram or ml. These levels were similar in frozen yogurt. Where the yogurts were made with additional probiotic bacteria, these were present in counts of up to 108 cfu/g.

A different picture emerged for the chesses, of which over 30 types from 18 countries were surveyed. The highest microbial counts were in Tilsit cheese aged 2–4 months. But Parmesan and Swiss Gruyere, both more than 1 year old, had no detectable microorganisms.

Other fermented products varied widely inn bacterial content

The authors reviewed results from a wide range of other fermented foods from around the world, showing that:

  • Fermented pork and beef from several countries varied from having undetectable counts up to high levels – 1010 cfu/g. Fermented sausages in the USA generally had fewer microorganisms than those from European countries where they tend to be made by smaller manufacturers.
  • The popular fermented cabbage recipe, sauerkraut, had LAB counts from103 to 108 cfu/g, while olives grown in Europe and the USA contained 104 to 108 cfu/g LAB.
  • Similar variations were seen in traditional Asian fermented products such as tempeh and fermented fish.
  • Fermented porridges and gruels made with millet or maize and widely eaten in many African countries ranged in their bacterial count from 105 to 109 cfu/g.
  • For beer, LAB counts ranged from 102 to 105 cfu/g varying with type and age of the beer.

“Based on the data reported in this survey, consumption of fermented foods would not only provide important macronutrients, they could also deliver large numbers of potentially beneficial microorganisms to the gastrointestinal tract.” – Rezac S et al, 2018.

How many live bacteria do we need?

Few guidelines exist on the numbers of live microorganisms we should be eating to gain a health benefit. The only exception, say the authors, is for yogurt in improving lactose tolerance, for which the European standards require that yogurt should contain at least 108 cfu live starter microorganisms per gram.

Recent research has suggested that we’d need to eat 1010 cells to influence our gut microbiota and provide a potential health benefit. We could achieve this by eating 100 g of fermented food containing 108 cells/g, the authors say. Their results show that this should be possible with several of the fermented products analysed – for example, eating 100 g of yogurt daily, containing 108 cfu/g LAB, would give us our daily target of 1010 microbes.

Some fermented foods have no live organisms

Some foods are made through fermentation but don’t contain live organisms by the time we come to eat them. Bread, some beers and wine, use yeasts for fermentation, but the organisms are killed or removed during production. Such foods may still be able to exert health benefits even without the live microbes, for example, the fermentation may produce vitamins or other bioactive molecules that are not present in the original food.

Fermented foods in dietary guidelines

The authors suggest that fermented foods should be included in dietary guidelines for specific populations, perhaps introducing fermented foods early in childhood as part of the daily diet. Regularly eating fermented foods could also be especially helpful for people in low-income communities that are particularly vulnerable to gut infections, say the authors.

“… several prominent groups have recommended that health care professionals should promote fermented foods containing live microbes as part of public health policy” – Rezac S et al, 2018.

Find out more: read the original article.
Source: Rezac S, Kok CR, Heermann M, Hutkins R. Fermented Foods as a Dietary Source of Live Organisms. Front Microbiol. 2018 Aug 24;9:1785.
Related Posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
31 Dec 2018
•
4 min read
Athletes Nutri-dense food

Keep soldiering on with a high-performance diet including yogurt

Related posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
Table of contents
Table of contents

A few simple steps to change the way we present our food can make all the difference when it comes to healthy choices. That’s the finding of a dietary programme carried out in a large group of soldiers, whose eating habits were improved without making their meals any less tasty. And a key player in their improved diet was yogurt.

For soldiers to stay fighting-fit they need to eat a healthy, performance-enhancing diet. But, like many of us, military personnel don’t tend to have a good track record when it comes to choosing the foods that are best for them. In particular, they eat less fruit and veg and more saturated fats and added sugars than they should according to dietary recommendations.

So in a bid to steer soldiers towards healthy food choices that optimise their performance, the US Army has set up the Special Operations Forces Human Performance Program. This is a nutrition intervention scheme based on menu standards and guidance developed jointly by the Army, Navy and Air Force. A study to test the effectiveness of the scheme is reported in this article.

Nutrient-dense foods such as yogurt were strategically placed

The programme was implemented in the dining facility of an army base catering for hundreds of soldiers. Healthy performance-optimising meals and high-quality nutrient-dense foods such as yogurt, walnuts, kale and quinoa were offered or incorporated into recipes for each meal in a 21-day meal cycle. At the same time, saturated fats were reduced in food preparation.

The high-quality foods were placed strategically in a way that they could be easily seen and accessed by the soldiers as they collected their meal. Hence the healthy foods were at the beginning of the serving line while high fat, nutrient-poor foods were at the end of the line.

By photographing the foods chosen, the authors compared the diets of soldiers in the intervention facility with those eating at another base that was not carrying out the scheme. They collected data before the intervention began, then at 4 months, 8 months and 12 months to see if any changes persisted.

Healthier meals, and just as enjoyable

Results showed that, although there was still room for improvement, the intervention programme improved the soldiers’ diet quality. These improvements persisted at least 4-12 months after the intervention programme. Using the Healthy Index, a standard way of measuring diet quality, they found that the intervention group scored 11 points higher than the control group.

The improved scores in the intervention soldiers reflected their switch away from calorie-dense meals and towards more nutrient-dense foods, particularly yogurt, fruit, legumes and red and orange vegetables.

Despite the soldiers’ concerns at the start of the programme, the improvements in diet quality were achieved without compromising their meal satisfaction. In fact, the intervention soldiers’ satisfaction increased for 11 of 17 ratings over the course of the study, say the authors.

‘Incorporating high-quality food ingredients and recipes within the military dining facility menu cycle may improve diet quality of military patrons.’ – Cole RE et al, 2018.

Learning about healthy food choices

Before starting the new menu regime, the soldiers in the intervention group had 5 hours of nutrition education on eating for health and resilience, and this was found to contribute to their healthy choices.

However, colour-coded labelling of foods to show their health value did not add to this positive effect on diet quality, perhaps because training wasn’t given on how to use the labelling system to maximise food choice, say the authors.

They conclude that widespread adoption of the programme across the military may lead to overall improved diet quality for these soldiers, although for military-wide adoption adjustments would be needed to make sure it’s economically feasible.

Find out more: read the original article.
Source: Cole RE, Bukhari AS, Champagne CM et al. Performance nutrition dining facility intervention improves special operations soldiers’ diet quality and meal satisfaction. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2018 Nov – Dec;50(10):993-1004
Related Posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
24 Dec 2018
•
3 min read
•
by YINI Editorial team
Other studies

Adding ginseng to yogurt or milk may boost their health benefits

YINI Editorial team
The YINI team includes nutritionists, food engineers, registered dietitians and scientific writers.
antioxidant dairies ginseng red ginseng
Related posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
Table of contents
Table of contents

Yogurt and other dairy products are well-known for their healthy cocktail of nutrients. But adding ginseng to yogurt or milk may provide a way of boosting their health benefits even further, this latest study suggests. That’s because it appears to strengthen the antioxidant component of the dairy products, the authors say.

Dairy products provide a great vehicle for delivering extra ingredients in our diet and as such can be considered functional foods, providing additional benefit that may promote our health or prevent disease. For example, yogurt can be enriched with probiotics, and milk may have vitamins or omega-3 added to it.

And we’re increasingly seeing in our shops dairy products containing natural flavourings such as herbs and fruits. These products may contain phenols and polyphenols – compounds extracted from plants and easily dissolved in milk. These compounds are good sources of natural antioxidants and are important for preventing chronic diseases including vascular disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease, say the authors.

Ginseng: a good choice for adding to yogurt or milk

The authors identified ginseng as another good candidate for supplementing dairy products. Red ginseng is a popular health remedy traditionally used to refresh and enhance wellbeing.

It’s made by steaming the root of the plant, a process that increases its content of a chemical called saponin which has anti-cancer, anti-diabetes, and anti-hypertensive effects. It also appears to protect smokers from oxidative damage and reduce their risk of smoking-related cancer, say the authors.

They investigated whether dairy products supplemented with red ginseng could provide greater antioxidant effects and potentially greater protection against cancer than dairy products without the added ginseng.

They added red ginseng extract to milk and yogurt and analysed the mixtures using several antioxidant assays. They also used a technique for finding DNA damage, as a measure of the dairy product’s ability to counter genotoxic effects – those caused by chemicals that damage cells’ genetic information causing mutations, which may lead to cancer.

Yogurt with ginseng had the highest antioxidant content

Their results revealed that the dairy products supplemented with red ginseng contained more phenols than the non-supplemented dairy products. The highest amount of polyphenols were found in the supplemented yogurt, while the milk without the added ginseng had the lowest content of polyphenols. The supplemented milk contained the most flavonoid, another powerful antioxidant.

Yogurt and milk with added ginseng showed increased antioxidant activity

The results also suggest that the supplemented yogurt and milk had higher antioxidant effects that the regular yogurt and milk that didn’t contain ginseng, and these effects were seen at all concentrations tested. This is in line with previous research suggesting that herbal yogurt has higher antioxidant activity than plain yogurt.

Protection against damage to our DNA

The authors also found a possible protective effect of the ginseng supplement against DNA damage induced in their test – there was less DNA damage in the ginseng-supplemented yogurt than in the regular yogurt, although no marked difference was seen between the supplemented and regular milk.

The authors conclude that enriching dairy products with red ginseng holds promise for providing health benefits because of the high antioxidant activity.

‘Thus, dairy products supplemented with red ginseng might be a promising natural source of antioxidants and could be used for the development of value-added products, such as functional dairy products.’ – Park H et al, 2018.

Find out more: read the original article.

Source: Park H, Lee M, Kim KT et al. Antioxidant and antigenotoxic effect of dairy products supplemented with red ginseng extract. J Dairy Sci. 2018 Oct;101(10):8702-8710.

YINI Editorial team
The YINI team includes nutritionists, food engineers, registered dietitians and scientific writers.
Related Posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
22 Dec 2018
•
1 min read
Monthly newsletter

Yogurt consumption is associated with reduced risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Related posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
Table of contents
Table of contents

Read the newsletter

Related Posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
17 Dec 2018
•
2 min read
Fermentation benefits

Yogurt may help protect against gastrointestinal disease

bifidobacterium fermentation gastrointestinal health gastrointestinal symptoms Lactobacillus live bacteria
Related posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
Table of contents
Table of contents

 “Yogurt with live culture can contribute to gut health” is one is one of the 10 evidence-based conclusions made by the YINI board about the health effects of yogurt… learn more below.

Yogurt may help to protect the intestinal barrier

Animal studies have suggested that a peptide found in yogurt, β-casein (94-123), increases the production of mucin, an essential component of the mucus layer that lines and protects the intestine.

Yogurt may protect against gastro-intestinal disease

Research suggests that yogurt might play a role in the treatment and prevention of gastrointestinal disorders.

  • For children with mild to moderate persistent diarrhoea, a yogurt-based diet may be recommended as it has been shown to reduce stool output and the duration of diarrhoea.
  • Modulation of the gut microbiota by yogurt, particularly yogurt containing Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, might be of value in the treatment or prevention of gastrointestinal diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome, infectious diarrhoea and allergy gastroenteritis. However, any potential benefits have yet to be proven.
  • Yogurt may be used in the nutritional management of acute gastroenteritis in children, but data on this approach are limited and large randomised controlled trials are needed to provide evidence to support it.
Yogurt, as it contains millions of bacteria and fermentation products, is beneficial for longterm health - Prof O Goulet

References:

“Yogurt for health: 10 evidence-based conclusion”
Related Posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
17 Dec 2018
•
4 min read
Fermentation benefits IUNS - ICN 2017 Publications

Bacteria may hold the key to health benefits of yogurt

bacteria fermentation gut health Hutkins IUNS2017 kok proceedings
Related posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences
Table of contents
Table of contents

Ever wondered what yogurt with live cultures really means for your health? Live yogurt contains trillions of friendly bacteria which experts believe may play a vital role in a raft of health benefits. But first the bacteria must reach the large intestine where they can do their good work. The authors of this article explain the challenges these bacteria face on their journey, and some of the benefits they may provide.

The yogurt cultures that ferment milk to form yogurt are the bacterial species Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus. Other microbes may also be involved in the manufacture of fermented milks – such as the probiotic* bacteria Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains – to provide extra health benefits.

Although these bacteria in yogurt may not survive for long in the gut, they help to balance the gut microbiota and may contribute to our good health, say the authors.

Bacteria in yogurt survive in the gut

However, the community of bacteria that normally live in our intestine – the gut microbiota – usually resists colonisation of the gut by bacteria introduced from outside the body.

Simply reaching the colon is a perilous journey for the yogurt bacteria. After ingestion, the intrepid travellers must run a gauntlet through the hostile environment of the gastro-intestinal system. Even the mouth is a dangerous place, as saliva contains enzymes with anti-microbial effects. The next hurdle is the acidic conditions of the stomach and its digestive enzymes. Then there are the bile salts in the small intestine – another threat for bacterial travellers.

Yet despite all these hurdles, a good proportion of the yogurt bacteria do survive and make it to the colon where they interact with the resident bacteria.

‘Several reports suggest that microorganisms present in fermented foods may also affect the gut microbiota, at least transiently.’ – Kok & Hutkins, 2018.

Yogurt and other fermented foods may improve health

Yogurt and other fermented dairy foods have been linked to various health improvements, including reduced risks of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, bladder cancer and colorectal cancer.

Promising results are emerging from studies looking at the specific health effects, both of the bacterial strains in traditional yogurt and of the probiotic strains that may be added during its manufacture. These effects may be seen, for example, in their association with improved levels of blood glucose and insulin, key factors in the development of diabetes.

Bacteria make yogurt suitable for lactose malabsorption

Milk and dairy products contain lactose, a natural sugar that is broken down in the intestine by the enzyme lactase. Levels of lactase in the gut decline after infancy but most adults still have enough to digest most of the lactose they eat.

However, some people don’t produce enough lactase and suffer uncomfortable symptoms, such as diarrhoea, gas and bloating. Most of these people can tolerate some lactose, and yogurt is often recommended as a dairy food suitable for them. Although yogurt contains lactose, the live bacteria in yogurt contain lactase which is released in the intestine where it assists with lactose digestion.

Experts at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have concluded that a cause-and-effect relationship between yogurt consumption and improved lactose digestion is sufficiently established to justify a health claim, as long as the yogurt contains a threshold level of live bacteria (at least 108 colony-forming units, CFU per gram).

Diets rich in fermented foods such as yogurt are likely to contribute a large part towards the millions of microbes we ingest every day through our food, say the authors. They conclude that, although this intake of microbes from fermented foods is only transient in the gut, a growing body of evidence suggests that it can influence our resident microbe community and so give us our own individual health benefits.

Find out more: read the original article.
Source: Kok CR, Hutkins R, Yogurt and other fermented foods as sources of health-promoting bacteria , Nutrition Reviews, Dec 2018, Volume 76, Supplement_1, 1 : 4-15

This article is part of the published proceedings of the 2017 YINI Summit, organized in Buenos Aires during the International Congress of Nutrition on the “Yogurt, gut microbiome and health: from potential mechanisms to dietary recommendations“. 

This article is published in Nutrition Review Supplement, Vol 76 (Supplement 1), Dec 2018

Read here the article

* Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.

Related Posts
Milk matrix matters: why dairy deserves a place in plant-based diets From plate to planet: the challenge of building sustainable diets Gut health: the prebiotic power of lactose Focus on the bioactive peptides in dairy and yogurt
See More
Our Resources
Practical sheets
Experts Interviews
Key Publications
International conferences