Yogurt consumption is associated with better diet quality and metabolic profile in American men and women
Introduction
The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee 2010 identified 10 nutrients that were inadequate in the diet of adult American men and women, including vitamins A, C, D, E, and K and choline, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and dietary fiber [1]. Dairy may play an essential role in helping to meet the recommendations for some of these shortfall nutrients [2]. An overall higher diet quality has been observed with increased dairy consumption [3], [4], [5], [6]. In addition, although evidence has not been consistent, increasing intake of dairy products may be associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes [7], [8], [9], [10]. In particular, fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products have been recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) as one of the food groups for which consumption should be increased [11]. However, few related epidemiological studies have differentiated between types of dairy products or specifically focused on yogurt.
Yogurt is a dairy product fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Although it generally has a similar micronutrient composition as milk, yogurt is highly concentrated with proteins and vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin B2 and B12, calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and others [12]. For example, low-fat yogurt contains approximately 50% more potassium, calcium, and magnesium per 8-oz serving than low-fat milk [13]. Despite limited evidence, yogurt consumption has been inversely linked to weight gain, common carotid artery intima-media thickness, metabolic syndrome, and type II diabetes [8], [14], [15], [16]. Therefore, increasing low-fat yogurt intake may be important for improving the diet quality and health among Americans.
The current study aimed to explore the relation of yogurt consumption with diet quality (focusing on shortfall nutrients) and metabolic profile among the adults involved in the Framingham Heart Study (FHS). We hypothesized that yogurt consumers and greater yogurt consumption would be related to better diet quality and healthier metabolic status independent of better diet quality.
Section snippets
Study population
The current study used data from the FHS Offspring Cohort and Generation Three Cohort. The detailed information about these 2 cohorts can be found elsewhere [17]. Briefly, the FHS, which started in 1948, is a longitudinal population-based study of cardiovascular disease. A total of 5124 offspring (aged 5-70 years) of the original FHS cohort were recruited to participate in the FHS Offspring Cohort Study in 1971. As of 2008, 8 examination cycles had been conducted. The Generation Three Cohort,
Results
There were 41.4% of men and 64.2% women consuming yogurt. The average energy contributions of yogurt among men and women were 1.38% and 2.75%, respectively. Participant characteristics are shown in Table 1. Compared with nonconsumers, yogurt consumers appeared to have better metabolic profile, such as lower BMI, waist circumference, levels of triglycerides, fasting glucose and insulin, and blood pressure but higher HDL cholesterol. Yogurt consumers consumed less percentage of energy from
Discussion
Among these 6526 middle-aged to older men and women, as we had hypothesized, yogurt intake was associated with better overall diet quality, greater intakes of several shortfall nutrients, and healthier metabolic profiles independent of overall diet quality.
Yogurt constituted up to 32% of dairy in European diets [30], whereas it only accounted for 5% or less of total dairy intake among men and women and across different ethnic groups in the United States [16]. As a dairy source with high
Acknowledgment
The authors thank Gail T. Rogers, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, for the help with data set management and Patrice Sutherland, Boston University, for providing the laboratory quality control data.
This work was supported by National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institute of Health (contract number: NO1-HC-25195), US Department of Agriculture Agreement 58–1950–7-707, and a research grant from The Dannon Company, Inc.
P. Jacques and
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