The health benefits of yogurt: fact or fiction?

Yogurt is one of the best ways to ingest "good" probiotic bacteria and is said to offer countless health benefits. We'll go over these benefits to see which ones are real and which are unproven.

Eating yogurt every day is a popular home remedy for recurrent yeast infections. But does it work? There's not enough research to say for sure.

• Yeast infections are caused by the overgrowth of a microorganism called Candida albicans in the vagina, which can occur when a woman takes antibiotic medications, among other reasons.
• Naturally occurring healthy bacteria, including L. acidophilus, exist in the vagina, too. However, there is limited scientific support for eating yogurt as a way to heal yeast infections.
• The efficiency of another folk remedy, inserting yogurt directly into the vagina, is also unproven.

• Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are caused by bacteria and can arise anywhere in the urinary system, including the bladder, kidneys, and any of the tubes that transport urine. The probiotic Lactobacillus shows some promise in the treatment of UTIs, but so far only strains that are not added to yogurt have proven successful.
• Eating 250 millilitres (one cup) of yogurt offers many health benefits, but relieving UTIs is not one of them.

• Eating yogurt appears to be a tasty way to bolster your body's defenses against microbes that can make you sick.
• Your gastrointestinal tract does much more than process your food: it also serves as a vital part of the immune system. That's right, your gut contains a vast preponderance of immune cells, and it seems that the probiotics in yogurt can help them function at their peak.
• Studies in both animals and humans show that consuming probiotics commonly added to yogurt (L. acidophilus, L. casei, and Bifidobacterium bifidus) increases levels of an important infection-fighting protein in the intestines.
• White blood cells known as lymphocytes are another critical part of your body's defense system, since they produce antibodies and other proteins that fight infections. A recent study found that the cells became more active in young women who consumed either a probiotic supplement or 100 to 200 grams (3 1/2 to seven ounces) of yogurt each day for a month.
• Other research suggests that probiotics make germ-eating white blood cells called macrophages more voracious.

What does all of that mean for your health? At minimum, regularly eating yogurt with live cultures could keep you out of a sickbed.

• A study of 262 employees at a Swedish company found that men and women who drank a beverage containing probiotics every day missed work half as often as other workers given a placebo beverage, and they were 60 percent less likely to develop gastrointestinal distress, colds, and other respiratory tract conditions.
• Yogurt's immune-stimulating properties could have even greater benefits. Preliminary evidence suggests that they may help reduce the risk of some cancers, including colon and bladder cancer.

So although yogurt isn't a miracle cure for yeast infections and UTIs, it does hold a host of other important and powerful benefits. So enjoy that probiotic yogurt. Whether it's in a parfait, a smoothie, with fruit, or on its own, it really is good for you.