Uniqueness of Yogurt – Yogurt is a vehicle for quality of the whole diet
Beyond its nutrient content, there is evidence suggesting that yogurt consumption might exert a favourable impact on other food choices.
Data from the Framingham Heart Study Offspring indicated that diet quality might be improved in yogurt consumers (2). As well as the data showing that the DGAI score tended to be greater in yogurt consumers compared to non-consumers, fibre intake was significantly greater in yogurt consumers in whom yogurt consumption made up 2% of total energy intake.
These observations might raise the research hypothesis that eating yogurt, for instance at snack time, might orientate food preferences at the subsequent meal.
This is in agreement with the Zhu et al study (10) who used NHANES cohorts to demonstrate that the healthy eating index (HEI, another diet quality score) of frequent yogurt consumers was better than that observed in infrequent consumers. Yogurt consumers (US children) have a greater intake of fruits, whole grains and milk indicating a better compliance to the dietary guidelines.
