But while bacteria used to make yogurt offer benefits, we don’t know how much is actually in a particular yogurt or how much you need for a health effect. The healthy probiotic bacteria in it are often assumed to be the reason. “In its simplest form, dairy yogurt is almost a ‘superfood,’” Petitpain says. And, as with some dairy yogurts, they may have thickening ingredients like pectin, tapioca starch, or gums. Plant-based yogurts are made from almond, cashew, coconut, oat, or soy milk with added cultures.
French yogurts, typically made with whole milk, are “pot set,” cultured in individual glass jars rather than in larger batches, which gives them a dense, creamy texture. The Australian yogurt brands have a creamy texture either from whole milk or a slow culturing process. The dairy yogurts in our tests had 4 to 15 grams of protein per serving, with Greek and Icelandic types containing the most.Īustralian and French yogurts are unstrained, with a thinner consistency that has more in common with typical American yogurts. “Straining removes some of the carbohydrates and concentrates the protein content of what’s left behind,” says Debbie Petitpain, MS, RD, wellness director at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Greek or Icelandic yogurt (known as skyr) is often strained, which thickens the yogurt and changes its nutrition. And it means that the lactose in yogurt is more easily digested than that in milk, so yogurt may be more gut-friendly for people who get gas and bloating when eating dairy foods.
This is what gives yogurt its signature tanginess. In general, though, the bacteria in yogurt convert the lactose naturally present in milk into lactic acid.