Yoghurt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cacık, a Turkish cold appetiser yoghurt variety.
Yoghurt or yogurt is a
dairy product produced by
bacterial fermentation of
milk. Fermentation of
lactose produces
lactic acid, which acts on milk
protein to give yoghurt its
texture and its characteristic tang.
Soy yoghurt, a non-dairy yoghurt alternative, is made from
soy milk.
People have been making—and eating—yoghurt for at least 4,500 years. Today it is a common food item throughout the world. It is a nutritional food with unique health benefits. It is nutritionally rich in
protein,
calcium,
riboflavin,
vitamin B6 and
vitamin B12.
[yoghurt is made at home because it requires neither special equipment nor unobtainable culture. It can be made at room temperature (20–30°C) in 10 to 15 hours.
Yoghurt has nutritional benefits beyond those of milk: people who are moderately
lactose-intolerant can enjoy yoghurt without ill effects, because the lactose in the milk precursor is converted to lactic acid by the bacterial culture. The reduction of lactose bypasses the affected individuals' need to process the milk sugar themselves.
[Yoghurt also has medical uses, in particular for a variety of gastrointestinal conditions,
[ and in preventing antibiotic-associated
diarrhea.
[One study suggests that eating yoghurt containing
L. acidophilus helps prevent vulvovaginal
candidiasis, though the evidence is not conclusive.
[Yoghurt is believed to promote good
gum health, possibly because of the probiotic effect of lactic acids present in yoghurt.
[A study published in the
International Journal of Obesity (11 January 2005) also found that the consumption of low fat yoghurt can promote weight loss. In the trial, obese individuals who ate 3 servings of low fat yogurt a day as part of a low calorie diet lost 22% more weight than the control group who only cut back on calories and did not have extra calcium. They also lost 81% more abdominal fat.
There is evidence of
cultured milk products being produced as food for at least 4,500 years. The earliest yoghurts were probably spontaneously fermented by wild bacteria
Lactobacillus bulgaricusThe use of yoghurt by mediaeval
Turks is recorded in the books Diwan Lughat al-Turk by
Mahmud Kashgari and
Kutadgu Bilig by
Yusuf Has Hajib written in the eleventh century. In both texts the word "yoghurt" is mentioned in different sections and its use by nomadic Turks is described. The first account of a European encounter with yoghurt occurs in French clinical history:
Francis I suffered from a severe
diarrhea which no French doctor could cure. His ally
Suleiman the Magnificent sent a doctor, who allegedly cured the patient with yoghurt. Being grateful, the French king spread around the information about the food which had cured him.
Tarator is a cold soup made of yoghurt popular in the
Balkans.
Until the 1900s, yoghurt was a staple in diets of the
South Asian,
Central Asian,
Western Asian,
South Eastern European and
Central European regions. The
Russian biologist Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, from the
Institut Pasteur in
Paris, had an unproven hypothesis that regular consumption of yoghurt was responsible for the unusually long lifespans of
Bulgarian peasants. Believing
Lactobacillus to be essential for good health,
Mechnikov worked to popularise yoghurt as a foodstuff throughout Europe.
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