According to a new study by Harvard researchers, yogurt is associated with a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes accounts for 95% of diabetes cases and appears often in individuals who are overweight and have an unhealthy lifestyle, in other words it can be prevented in many cases.
In this study, the researchers analyzed data from over 100,000 individuals and what they found was that yogurt reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas other forms of dairy such as milk did not. In fact they found that one serving of yogurt a day reduced the risk by 18%. Imagine, just by eating one yogurt.
Reading about this study, I was reminded of the traditional Greek diet where yogurt and cheese were the main forms of dairy, not milk. Apart from having calcium and protein, yogurt offers so much more than milk: It contains probiotics, the good bacteria, helping the normal function of the gut but they also may help improve insulin sensitivity and reduce inflammation thus protecting from diabetes. Ina addition yogurt can be more filling since you are actually eating something rather than drinking it and for those of you who trouble with lactose, yogurt has lower amounts of lactose than milk and also is better tolerated.
So the lesson here is, start eating yogurt  everyday. Check out this link on different and fun ways of adding yogurt to your diet as well as here on how to choose the best yogurt. And if you want to know what the real Greek yogurt is, I explain it here.
Read about the study here.
Excellent post Elena! I’m just getting into eating yogurt regularly as I have been hearing lots of good things about its health benefits lately! Love your blog!
Yogurt is probably one of my favourite foods. I was wondering your opinion on dairy causing acne? I wonder how accurate this is(?) As you never see traditional/non westernised cultures, who consume dairy, with acne!
Hi Sophie. There have been some studies that do show an association between milk and acne. Although not cause and effect. Trading for other forms of dairy may help.
Greek yogurt (from sheep milk) not available in my area. However I found one vendor that sells plain goat yogurt. Is it comparable nutritionally to sheep yogurt?
Thanks, Michael
Hi Michael, Traditional Greek yogurt was not strained, so plain goat milk is just fine.