In this study, data was analyzed from 5,124 children aged 2-18 years who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in the USA between 2003 and 2006. The frequency of yogurt consumption over 12 months was determined using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Diet quality was assessed by the Healthy Eating Index 2005 (HEI-2005) using one 24-HR dietary recall, and metabolic profiles were obtained from the NHANES laboratory data.
Frequent consumers (33.1% of children) consumed yogurt at least once per week. Adjusting for covariates, they had better diet quality than infrequent consumers, as indicated by a higher HEI-2005 total score. Frequent yogurt consumption was also associated with a lower fasting insulin level, a lower homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance, and a higher quantitative insulin sensitivity check index.
