As I was standing in line at the grocery store the other day, I noticed an older lady in front of me had an entire cart loaded with commercial yogurt. I immediately felt very empathetic as she obviously was placing high importance on store yogurt in her diet – perhaps to help some sort of chronic digestive issue.
What is really sad is that it is virtually certain that she was experiencing little to no benefit for her efforts.
This is because standard store yogurt including those squeezable yogurt tubes for kids are not the probiotic filled food that the television commercials and other advertising would lead you to believe.
The problem is that commercial yogurt is fermented for very short periods of time. This includes highly popular Greek yogurt alternatives. Is Greek yogurt better for you than regular? Not if the inoculation time for the probiotics to grow is insufficient!
The length of time for fermentation of commercial yogurt (both regular and Greek) is so short (one person in the dairy industry told me that it is an hour or even less) that thickening agents are sometimes even added to commercial yogurt to give it the look and feel of yogurt that has been fermented for much longer such as would happen with yogurt made on a small dairy farm or in your kitchen.
This is why Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, author of Gut and Psychology Syndrome, recommends avoiding store yogurt and eating yogurt only that you’ve made yourself and fermented for a full 24 hours. This is to ensure that the majority of the lactose (milk sugar) is used up and sufficient strength of the probiotic cultures.
The Specific Carbohydrate (SCD) Diet also recommends yogurt that is cultured for a full 24 hours.
Of course, making yogurt at home yourself also permits the selection of high-quality milk and avoidance of all the additives and sugar added to most commercial store yogurt as well. Homemade kefir is even better with dozens more probiotic strains.
Yogurt fermented for 24 hours will most definitely assist your gut and help rebalance your digestive flora with the help of beneficial though transient cultures that good quality yogurt is loaded with.
It is also helpful to note that yogurt made with raw milk will be naturally more drinkable style like kefir than yogurt made with heated or pasteurized milk.
So if someone you know eats a lot of commercial yogurt brands and is doing this primarily to assist with their digestive health and to boost immune function, tip them off that they would be better off making it themselves or buying it from a small farm!
Commercial Yogurt Sweetened with GMO Sugar
Another problem with commercial yogurt is that it is usually sweetened with genetically modified (GMO) sweeteners. Â Many consumers know that corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup are GMO. Â However, even health-savvy shoppers typically don’t realize that even if the label on commercial yogurt says “sugar” instead of corn syrup, it is virtually certain that sugar is also from a GMO source. Only if the label says “cane sugar” or “organic sugar” does this guarantee that the sugar is GMO-free.
The best policy is to make yogurt yourself or buy it from a small farm that uses quality grass-fed milk.
If you must buy commercial for whatever reason, seek out a brand of 24 hour yogurt if at all possible (there are only a few that exist at this time).
More Information
How do you go about making yogurt? We have 2 gallons of raw milk (there was a mix up when my husband and I went on vacation, so we got extra) and I need to do something with it before it goes bad. 🙂
I assume that coconut milk based yogurt made with the 24 hour fermentation is healthier than store bought equivalent, too? Due to our current dietary restrictions, we can’t do dairy & my son is missing yogurt.
We also have dairy allergies here. I too am interested in more info on non-dairy yogurts. Help! I have never made yogurt but I want to begin and I don’t know where to start.
culturesforhealth.com is one source of info. but I’m still searching on line for recipes to figure out which one might be best to start with. Expensive to experiment.
Perfect timing for this article as I just recommitted myself to making my own yogourt!
Perfect timing for this article as I just recommitted myself to making my own yogourt!
Store Yogurt Won’t Do Squat for Your Health – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/cMUL55Pk
We eat yoghurt more often over summer. I’ve had a couple of attempts at making my own, with varying degrees of success depending on expectations. I would like to let my yoghurt sit longer, but our climate is really warm. In summer, I would be lucky to find anywhere in the house that is less than 25C during the day, and more likely up around 30C. Night temperatures are similar. Any advice on how I should approach my yoghurt making? I have access to unpasteurised goat and cow milk, as well as good-quality pasteurised (non-homogenised) cow milk. I would be keen to try kefir, but also not sure how it goes with the heat. Oh, and summer is long – November to March.
Andrea
I”ve made yogurt using raw goats milk for years. Usually just try to time starting it to milking time, it’s a good temp that way without any additional heating. I use a good quality yogurt like plain Fage, or Fage, Cabot plain whole milk Greek as starter if I need. I have an old fashioned gas stove with a pilot light and leave in for 12-16 plus hours. It’s initially thinner but after refrigerating thickens up. The freshly made makes great base for salad dressings with blue cheese or herbs added. We usually just add a little local honey or fruit to the yogurt. People who are use to sickly sweet commercial yogurt find it tangy but we love it.
GoatMom,
Can you elaborate on your process a little for me? I bought two dairy goats a few months ago and I would love to start making my own yogurt. Your post really intrigued me. Thanks!
I make my own, but used commercial yogurt as a starter. Is that okay?
I think that should be ok as long as you ferment it for awhile – 24 hours is great.
Would you post your yogurt recipe? I’d love to see how you make it. What if you can’t afford to use raw milk for making yogurt?
Hi Margie, I buy my yogurt from a small farm. I do make my own kefir which I have a video for on this blog if you want to watch that to learn how to make.
I have always wondered about storebought yogurt. I knew the sugar content in them were not good but I didn’t realize there was hardly an probiotics in them.
I have also been wondering, how much cultured dairy and fermented foods should we be comsuming daily for optimum health? I know it could vary from person to person but how much do you consume?