We’ve written extensively about the “Mediterranean diet,”one of the healthiest diets on earth.
But a new study presented by the American Heart Association reveals that you don’t have to go overboard engaging the Mediterranean culture.
Just by consuming this ONE little Greek snack (found in all supermarkets) regurarly, you can drastically lower blood pressure and lose weight.
The health benefits of plain Greek yoghurt have been known for a while now. It contains calcium and is a great source of protein and probiotics. It is one of the best between-meal snacks that gives a sensation of being full longer. However, there is another, even more powerful quality of yoghurt that was discovered in 15 year-long study presented by the American Heart Association.
This long-lasting study on yoghurt health benefits was conducted on more than 2,000 volunteers.
None of the study participants were suffering from high blood pressure at the beginning of the research.
During the study period, the research group was asked to fill out a questionnaire three times to find out the frequency of the yoghurt consumption.
What the researchers found out was that for study participants whose daily calorie intake consisted of at least 2% of yoghurt (about one 6-ounce cup every three days), they were 31 % less likely to develop high blood pressure!
The participants who were not frequent consumers of low-fat yoghurt developed significantly higher systolic blood pressure throughout the years, compared to the frequent yoghurt-eating group.
This research once again proves the importance of low-fat diary products to our heart health and especially in managing high blood pressure.
Fortunately, this food is easily found in any supermarket all over the world. To make sure you are getting the maximum health benefits of yoghurt always choose plain, sugar free, with no artificial flavorings- organic, if possible.
Any kind of plain yogurt is going to be beneficial to your health. Repeated studies have however revealed that “Greek style” yoghurt is the most powerful of them all.
Be aware, however, that much of the flavored yoghurt sold in supermarkets is loaded with sugar and chemicals and should be avoided by all means.
I love plain yoghurt, especially the one with probiotics in it. Its very healthy for you.Now I know it also helps lower blood pressure. Thank you for posting this great information!
One of the important issues we need to know is that singular magic bullet discoveries do not really exist anymore, because they may have been discovered already. But I believe the cure is not the yogurt but the effect yogurt had on the participants.
I like taking yogurt but it has more to do with the stomach calming effects it has. I normally take it before bedtime to help me sleep better and also for my children who have an exam to take and so I serve yogurt for them to have a good night’s sleep. By having better quality sleep, naturally your blood pressure drops.
I value the therapeutic effects of natural remedies because they are more easily available and easier to store in the long term – they are food in the first place but I doubt if there are anymore single magic bullets out there,so health researchers need to combine multiple approaches to curing and relieving diseases.
thanks for this information, i have never eaten yoghurt, am going to give it a try.
Yogurt has been hyped for some time now and has the benefit of replacing intestine bacteria destroyed by antibiotics. The yogurt promoted is mostly loaded with sweeteners, most of which are detrimental to health. Also most are also labeled either low fat or fat free which may or not be beneficial. Saturated fat has been given bad references and good depending on where you read. It has been around longer than man and doesn’t seem to have caused problems in the past. Partially hydrogenated is another story. There seems to be fair agreement on its dangers, but margarine is still promoted. It should be noted that fats and oils are the basis for nerve tissue and should not be avoided for that reason and ingested fat is not what makes you fat, but carbohydrates that are turned into fat in the intestine.
The best variation is the 2% strained yoghurt (low fat, many probiotics), and it has a very velvet consistency. Ask me. I'm Greek! 🙂 If you add some honey,
pomegranate seeds or some dry figs you have a very yummy and healthy dessert
Where do you get pomegranate seeds & dry figs from?
thank you for you health tip because am really deep into health and I'm very particular with what I feed my body with
I hope it doesn't have to be lo-fat to qualify as "Greek style"?
Low fat is a modern invention, but greek yogurt is a well established food which would traditionally be made with whole milk.
I never buy lo-fat. What a waste of time that is!!!
The whole lo-fat industry is just marketing junk.
Why low fat? Organic grass fed full fat foods such as yoghurt, milk, cream cheese, cottage cheese, butter and eggs are health foods…
Everything comes from Costco, I would not buy the low fat Greek yoghurt unless it was the only type available.