Known as "probiotics", these healthy bacteria in the intestine are "pro" or beneficial to the health of the body. Studies are showing probiotics can improve digestion, reduce diabetes, support weight loss, reduce cholesterol, boost the immune system and relieve allergies.
One study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that consuming yogurt or the beneficial bacteria from it, has promising health benefits for many conditions. Some of these include relief from constipation, diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease, stomach bacteria infections and allergies.
A study on yogurt was published in the journal called "Archives of Osteoporosis". It reviewed the ability of yogurt to strengthen bones and found that milk and yogurt are the best dairy choices for increasing bone mineral density in the hip.
Yogurt has been found to assist weight loss. A healthy supplement similar to the acidophilus used in yogurt was recently found in a Canadian study to help overweight women lose weight and keep it off. It was discovered that the supplement made the intestinal wall stronger and more able to prevent inflammatory, obesity-causing substances from passing into the intestine and entering the bloodstream.
During the first 12-week period of the Canadian study, the subjects underwent a weight-loss diet. This was followed by a 12-week period aimed at maintaining their body weight. Throughout the entire 24 weeks, half of the subjects took two pills daily containing probiotics, while the other half received placebos. After the 12-week dieting period, there was an average weight loss of 8.8 pounds in the women in the probiotics group and 5.7 pounds for women in the placebo group.
The interesting difference is that at the end of the 12-week maintenance period, the weight of the women in the placebo group stayed the same, but the probiotics group continued to lose weight - a total of 11.5 pounds per person. Upon testing, these women demonstrated having a drop in an appetite-regulating hormone, as well as less of the intestinal bacteria related to obesity.
The Journal of Nutrition published a study on yogurt that found the people who consumed yogurt, especially those that used the live-culture form, had a decrease in allergic symptoms. Another benefit shown in this study is that those who didn't eat yogurt experienced an increase in cholesterol during the study, while those in the yogurt group remained stable during the course of the year.
The benefits of yogurt are best gotten from the plain, unsweetened kind or from capsules containing acidophilus or other beneficial organisms. Use it instead of sour cream or mayonnaise. It can also be featured on top of baked potatoes, in salad dressings, dips, smoothies and other foods.