Yogurt - Cool & Creamy and Good For You Too

No one ever thinks about bacteria as being good for you, but believe it or not, there are beneficial bacteria that provide us with real health benefits. And they're found in yogurt. A dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk, yoghurt is great for breakfast, lunch, dessert, and as an ingredient in main courses and baked goods.

Yogurt has a long history. Cultured milk products have been consumed as far back as 4500 years ago. In all probability, it was discovered by accident; believed to have spontaneously fermented by wild bacteria living on the goatskin bags carried by the Bulgars, a nomadic people migrating through Europe in the second century AD. Yogurt is also mentioned in writings by nomadic Turks in the eleventh century. But many different countries claim the discovery of yogurt as their own, with no conclusive answer. What is known is that until the 1900s, yogurt was only a staple in the diets of India, Asia and Eastern Europe.

The word yoghurt is derived from the Turkish word 'yogurut' which means long life.

Up until the 1970s, very few Americans had ever tasted yogurt even though the first commercial yogurt producer was an American company. Started in 1919, and now familiarly known as Dannon, still a world leader in the yogurt market. Today, Americans eat an average of about five pounds of yogurt per person per year. Europeans eat about twice that amount.

It's nutritional value as a healthy food is undisputed. A great source of vitamin D, extra calcium, Omega-3, pre-and probiotic bacteria all make yogurt beneficial for the gut, heart, skin and bones. Yogurt is thought to improve the immune system and reducing the risk of both colon and breast cancer. It is also rich in protein and contains as much potassium as a banana.

In addition, there is reason to believe that our overuse of antibiotics promotes excessive yeast overgrowth that is combated by yogurt, which restores healthy bacteria to the digestive system.

The only catch is that the yogurt must contain active cultures, and not all yogurts can claim that. Yogurt traditionally contains two specific cultures: streptococcus thermophilus and lactobacillus bulgaricus. When reading yogurt labels, make sure it says that it contains active yogurt cultures. Some yogurts say, 'made with active cultures'. This means that the yogurt was probably heat-treated, which kills the active cultures.

Making your own yogurt is easy and economical, and you can choose to use raw milk to make your yogurt too, enhancing the health benefits.