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Yogurt
Yogurt has been prized since it
was discovered more than 4,000 years ago. In ancient Persia, today known as
Iran, a woman's dowry was determined by how much yogurt her prospective
husband could buy. In ancient Assyria, the word for yogurt was lebeny, which
also meant life.
It certainly meant life to
Genghis Khan's troops as the wandering general used it to sustain them
during their marches through Mongolia and Persia. And Mahatma Gandhi
dedicated an entire chapter of his book Diet Reform to the benefits of
yogurt.
Although yogurt has been around
for centuries, it gained a foothold in the American diet about 25 years ago.
Since then, our love for the creamy concoction has steadily increased. A
survey by the US department of Agriculture found we ate an average of 4.1
pounds of yogurt per person in 1990, four times deficiency called atrophic
gastritis. This condition occurs in one out of every two people over age 50.
Your body needs stomach acid
because it destroys enzymes in the stomach and intestines that help colon
cancer develop. In this study, the participants who ate yogurt had much less
enzyme activity, which the researchers speculate could mean a lower risk of
colon cancer.
Cholesterol-soaking sponge.
Linking yogurt and cholesterol causes more controversy than consensus, but
early research shows some strains of the Lactobacillus bacteria may indeed
lower cholesterol. Researchers at Oklahoma State University have found that
certain strains work like sponges and actually soak up cholesterol in the
intestines before it can be absorbed by the body. Since this research in
still in the early stages, however, you wont' find any of these cholesterol
clobbering yogurts at your local grocery.
Other scientists have explored
whether yogurt can reduce blood cholesterol levels. Studies of Masai
warriors in East Africa found that when the Africans ate large quantities of
yogurt, they lowered their cholesterol levels even thought hey gained
weight. The American Heart Association doesn't agree with these results,
however. It says the key to lowering your cholesterol levels is to reduce
the amount of saturated fat in your diet.
Boosts immune system.
studies at the University of California suggest that eating yogurt with live
active cultures can give your immune system a boost. People in the study who
ate two cups of yogurt containing live active cultures every day for several
months produced more gamma interferon than people who ate yogurt without
live bacteria. Researchers suspect that yogurt revs up your immune system by
increasing your body's production of gamma interferon, a protein that helps
your body's white blood cells fight disease.
Won't yield to yeast
infections. After menopause, the lining of your vagina becomes dry
and thin, increasing your risk of yeast infections. Yogurt may be the key to
helping your body stop these annoying infections.
A small study of 13 women
conducted at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center supported this theory.
every day for six months, the women ate a cup of yogurt containing a
bacteria called Lactobacillus acidophilus. For the next six months, they ate
no yogurt at all. Researchers found the women suffered only a third as many
yeast infections during the time they ate yogurt as when they didn't.
A more recent study conducted at
Central Emek Hospital in Israel found that eating just a little more than
half a cup of yogurt cultured with Lactobacillus acidophilus significantly
lowered the number of vaginal infections caused by various bacteria.
Interestingly, this study also
found that both pasteurized and nonpasteurized yogurts containing the
Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria worked almost equally well at treating
yeast infections. This may mean that something besides the bacteria in
yogurt fights off yeast infections. Whatever conclusion researchers come to,
it's still good news for women plagued by this uncomfortable condition.
Yogurt may help in other ways as
well. Some researchers have focused on using yogurt in the vagina to treat
bacterial infections. A study conducted in Japan on 11 women, ages 20 to 60,
found that an intravaginal application of commercial yogurt containing the
Lactobacillus bacteria totally relieved the infection in six of the women
and partially relieved the infection in three others.
Immobilizes other
infections, too. Yogurt works like a natural antibiotic against some
bacteria, such as salmonella typhimurium. Researchers in the Netherlands
found that rats who were given yogurt resisted salmonella infections better
than rats fed plain milk or acidified milk. Laboratory tests also show that
yogurt can kill 11 strains of Campylobacter jejuni, a bacteria that causes
intestinal problems, in 25 minutes or less.
Defeats diarrhea.
Certain antibiotics cause diarrhea because they kill off your intestines'
good bacteria along with the bad. Some researchers say yogurt can help stop
the diarrhea caused by taking antibiotics.
Mona Sutnick, a registered
dietitian and spokeswomen for the American Dietetic Association, says she
thinks the jury is still out on this question. However, she's seen enough
research to suggest it may be possible. She suggests trying yogurt if you're
suffering from antibiotic-induced diarrhea because it may help, and it
certainly won't hurt.
If you're traveling and worried
about getting diarrhea from some unfamiliar bacteria, you can safely savor
at least one food. That's right -- yogurt. According to nutrition scientist
Dennis Savaiano, yogurt is unlikely to contain disease-causing bacteria even
if it's been left out in the open air. Savaiano and his colleagues at the
University of Minnesota came to this conclusion after they added strains of
E. coli, the most common cause of traveler's diarrhea, to unpasteurized
yogurt. Within nine hours, the yogurt had killed all the E. coli.
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