While I believe yogurt is one of the best fermented foods available, particularly if you make your own, scientists continue to conduct research aimed at drawing out new health benefits for this popular dairy product. The latest news, out of the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison, suggests yogurt is not only a wonderful inflammation fighter, but also a beneficial “appetizer” that may boost your postmeal metabolism.

While the current body of work is thought-provoking, it’s important to note the research was funded by the National Dairy Council, an organization with a clear interest in promoting dairy products. Beyond that, more studies are needed to validate the potential anti-inflammatory and metabolic-boosting effects of yogurt.

Even so, traditional yogurt has long been established as a beneficial food that promotes healthy gut bacteria. I highly recommend it with one caution: Steer clear of the sugary, chemical-laden versions sold in your local market. If you want good-tasting, high-quality yogurt, it’s best to make your own.

Eating a Premeal Serving of Yogurt May Improve Your Postmeal Metabolism

Researchers from UW-Madison have published another paper related to the health benefits of yogurt. The latest study, published in the May 2018 issue of the Journal of Nutrition,¹ focuses on a different aspect of research completed in 2017 involving 120 premenopausal women, half of whom were obese. Half of the participants consumed 12 ounces of low-fat yogurt each day for nine weeks, while the others ate a soy-based nondairy pudding.

This is a good time to remind you to avoid soy-based yogurts because 99 percent of the world’s soybeans are genetically engineered(GE), as well as low-fat dairy — full-fat varieties are typically the better choice.

As mentioned, the research, led by Brad Bolling, Ph.D., assistant professor of food science at UW-Madison, was funded by the National Dairy Council, a nonprofit organization supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s national dairy checkoff program, whose objective is to promote dairy products (primarily those that come from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)).²

The study aimed to get to the heart of the debate around dairy — is it inflammatory or, as Bolling and his team suggest, might dairy provide some anti-inflammatory benefits? Beyond addressing the inflammation question, the team sought to uncover any other potential health benefits related to yogurt consumption. One such effect involved the testing of yogurt’s effects on postmeal metabolism. With respect to this test, subjects were presented with a high-calorie challenge meal designed to stress their metabolism.

This high-fat, high-carbohydrate breakfast was given to the women at the beginning and end of the nine-week trial, expressly for the purpose of overloading their systems. Bolling stated, “It was two sausage muffins and two hash browns, for a total of 900 calories.”³ Half of the group ate a serving of yogurt before eating the other food, while the other half consumed soy pudding. 

Bloodwork completed over the ensuing four hours while the meal was being digested indicated the yogurt “appetizer” helped improve key biomarkers of endotoxin exposure and inflammation in the yogurt-eating group. Researchers also noted postmeal glucose levels dropped more quickly in obese women within the yogurt group, suggesting improved glucose metabolism.⁴

About the results, Ruisong Pei, a UW-Madison food science postdoctoral researcher, said, “Eating 8 ounces of low-fat yogurt before a meal is a feasible strategy to improve postmeal metabolism and thus may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.”⁵

Eating Yogurt Shown to Reduce Inflammation in Obese Women

Earlier work by the UW-Madison team, focused on the same group of 120 women, was published in the British Journal of Nutrition.⁶ As mentioned, half the participants ate 12 ounces of low-fat yogurt every day for nine weeks while the others ate a similar amount of a soy-based nondairy pudding.

Throughout the experiment, at various points in time, the researchers took blood samples and assessed them for biomarkers of endotoxins and inflammation. The results, published in late 2017, showed inflammatory markers such as TNF-alpha, an important inflammation-activating protein, were significantly reduced in the group eating yogurt.⁷

About yogurt’s effects on your body, Medical News Today states, “Yogurt is thought to reduce inflammation by improving the integrity of the intestinal lining. And, by bolstering this layer of tissue, endotoxins — produced by gut bacteria — cannot cross into the bloodstream and promote inflammation.”⁸ The study authors said, “Low-fat yogurt for nine weeks reduced biomarkers of chronic inflammation and endotoxin exposure in premenopausal women compared with a nondairy control food.”⁹

Added Bolling, “The results indicate ongoing consumption of yogurt may be having a general anti-inflammatory effect.”¹⁰ As noted in a 2015 study¹¹ involving some of the same researchers, inflammation is a key concern if you are obese because obesity is often accompanied by chronic, low-grade inflammation that is caused by adipose tissue and problems in your gut. The researchers also noted “obesity-associated dysregulation of microbiota and impaired gut barrier function” may increase your endotoxin exposure.¹²

The next step for this research will focus on identifying the specific compounds in yogurt that are providing the beneficial effects. “Ultimately, we would like to see these components optimized in foods, particularly for medical situations where it’s important to inhibit inflammation through the diet,” says Bolling.

As good as the research sounds, it’s best to wait until more studies are completed, with larger groups of people, before making yogurt your new premeal “go-to” food, although, if you enjoy it, there’s little harm — and much to gain — from adding raw, full-fat, grass fed yogurt to your regular diet.