Shared for you : a classic Indian side dish with this creamy cucumber salad from Ellie Krieger. This recipe is ideal for providing cool, crisp contrast to a spicy entrée. Every week, we bring you valuable quotes from around the web on yogurt.

Ingredients:

Makes 4 servings

• 1 large English cucumber
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds ord 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Preparation:

Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise, then scoop out the seeds and discard. Slice the cucumber thinly. Place the cucumber in a colander, toss with salt, and allow to sit for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, place the cumin seeds, if using, in a dry skillet and toast over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until they become fragrant and turn a darker shade of brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer the seeds to a cutting board and, using the flat edge of a large knife, crush the seeds a bit.

In a medium bowl, stir together the yogurt, lemon juice, and cumin seeds or ground cumin, until combined. Coarsely chip the cilantro. Pat the cucumber with a paper towel to absorb the moisture released. Add the cucumber slices and cilantro to the yogurt dressing and toss to combine.

Service size: about 1/2 cup

Nutrition Facts:

• Calories: 30
• Total fat: 0.5 g
  • Sat fat: 0g
  • Mono fat: 0.2g
  • Poly fat: 0g
• Protein: 2g
• Carb: 4g
• Fiber: 1g
• Cholesterol: 0mg
• Sodium: 170 mg

Weeknight Wonders: Delicious, Healthy Dinners in 30 Minutes or Less-  Ellie Krieger – All Rights reserved – December 31, 2013

We share with a topic from Greg Miller on the benefits of yogurt as a nutritious food for children and beyond.

While I was at the grocery store looking through the dairy section the other day, I noticed that brightly-colored packages of kid-friendly yogurts took up a good portion of the display. But aside from the attractive packaging, yogurt is more than meets the eye as a nutritious food for kids.

Parents and health and wellness professionals alike are looking for nutritious and delicious foods that will help kids maintain a healthy weight as they grow. A study recently published in Nutrients found that yogurt is a food that may help with that.
The researchers, who used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2005-2008) in 3,786 U.S. children ages 8-18, found that eating yogurt and dairy foods was associated with greater intakes of calcium, vitamin D, protein, and potassium – three of which (calcium, vitamin D, potassium) fall short in children’s diets. In addition, eating yogurt was not associated with total calorie consumption, and eating yogurt was associated with lower saturated fat consumption and lower BMI, waist circumference, and subscapular skinfold thickness.

That’s good news. The not-so-good news is that the majority of American children (91.5 percent) represented in this study do not consume yogurt. According to 2014 market data, children under the age of 6 eat yogurt most frequently, while teenagers (ages 13-17) eat it the least. I found this surprising since my kids, who are now young adults, have always liked yogurt.

Since 86 percent of yogurt is eaten at home, and children are most likely to eat yogurt as a snack, encourage parents to add low-fat yogurt to their weekly shopping list and keep the refrigerator stocked. That way it will be readily available when their children come home from school looking for a delicious snack.

Breakfast may be a great opportunity for teens to eat more yogurt. This article, How to Get Your Teen to Eat Breakfast, shows how yogurt with cereal or in a smoothie is a quick and easy way to give teens the nutrient boost that can be helpful  in the morning. A parent or teen can whip up this Berry Smoothie in 5 minutes, using low-fat blueberry yogurt.

Source: http://www.thedairyreport.com/yogurt-is-kid-friendly-in-more-ways-than-one/

Copyright: Greg Miller (The Dairy Report)

Dr. Martinez-Gonzalez is an international renowed physician, epidemiologist, nutrition researcher, and professor at the Department of Public Health at the University of Navarra in Spain. He is the principal investigator of the SUN Cohort Study: In association with Dr. Carmen Sayon-Orea (University of Navarra, Spain) he identified dietary determinants of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and coronary heart disease.

In your latest research, an inverse association was found between the high consumption of yogurt and fruit and the development of Metabolic Syndrome. What is the specific role of yogurt in reducing the risk and what are the key nutrients that achieve this preventive effect?

Yogurt is a good source of calcium, and it has been suggested that calcium intake can reduce the lipogenesis (the synthesis of fatty acids in the body), and increase the lipolysis (the hydrolysis of fats). Also at the same time, calcium intake reduces fat absorption. (The lactic acid of yogurt promotes a better absorption of calcium). These 2 mechanisms could be involved in the development of being overweight or obese, which is one of the most important components of Metabolic Syndrome. However, we believe that is not only yogurt alone the one who is fully responsible of this apparent protection. We think that the overall quality of a dietary pattern offer protection against Metabolic Syndrome than each of the isolated food components. That’s why this protection was observed only when high yogurt consumption was consumed at the same time with high fruit consumption.

In contrast with the Western dietary pattern, the Mediterranean diet may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Moreover, Spain shows high rates in yogurt consumption. How does yogurt fit in this Mediterranean dietary pattern and how does this affect the risk for CVD and diabetes?

The traditional Mediterranean Dietary Pattern proposed by Trichopoulou, weights inversely the total consumption of dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese). However, Trichopoulou also said, that the most common way of dairy consumption inside the Mediterranean Dietary Pattern is yogurt intake. Until now, any clinical trials of Mediterranean Diet have studied the effects of yogurt and risk of CVD or diabetes. However,  recently Salas-Salvado, et al. concluded that a high consumption of dairy products and particularly yogurt may be protective against T2D in older adults at high cardiovascular risk.

Did the results of your last publication changed your personal consumption of yogurt ? What do you say or recommend to your relatives ?

The results of this last publication did not changed my personal consumption of yogurt, cause since long time ago I use to take 1 or 2 yogurts per day. However, since we found these results, I started advising to my relatives and friends, the consumption of at least 1 yogurt per day.

Read more about the research of Prof. Martinez-Gonzalez on yogurt