Lots of people know yogurt as a tasty, sweet and tangy snack. But, did you know that yogurt also has plenty of health benefits, too?

It’s not about the sweetened yogurt on the market. Though, eating that yogurt isn’t so bad—after all, it’s a much better snack than greasy chips or sugary cookies. Yogurt made with natural sweeteners like fruits or just plain yogurt make excellent additions to any healthy eating menu.

But, yogurt is a super food, too.

It’s pack with plenty of vitamins and contains nutrients essential to maintaining a healthy body, specifically a healthy gastrointestinal system.

Don’t believe yogurt health benefits? Well, keep reading on to learn why yogurt has plenty of health benefits.

Yogurt Health Benefits

Yogurt is a pretty unique food. It’s filled with nutrients and vitamins, yet some people think it’s all about being sugary sweet. But, like any foods on the market, you can buy sweetened yogurt and unsweetened yogurt and even those that have enough sweeteners to make eating it worth it.

Yogurt is considered an important source of many essential nutrients and vitamins, including riboflavin, phosphorus, potassium, protein, calcium and vitamin B-2 and B-12. Much of the caloric and nutritional content in yogurt is also found in milk, particularly the same milk used to make it. That makes yogurt a great alternative for people who don’t like or can’t drink much milk.

Benefit #1: Probiotics in yogurt may help boost the immune system.

Yogurt, specifically yogurt with active cultures, may help boost the immune system. If you’re wondering how that’s done, it’s mainly because probiotics help rebalance the gut’s microflora, otherwise known as the healthy bacteria that resides within the gastrointestinal system.

Healthy bacteria helps protect the gastrointestinal system and helps keep everything running smoothly. But, according to medical research, probiotics may also have an effect on boosting the efficiency of the immune system, too.

Probiotics were found to have ‘helped improve the health of people with inflammatory bowel disease by altering the intestinal flora and stifling the immune system’s response to the disease.’

It was also found to help ‘enhance resistance to illnesses of the gut and improve recovery from different infections.’

Benefit #2: Yogurt may help people prevent the onset of osteoporosis.

Many health experts say that the ‘key to help preventing the onset of osteoporosis is getting enough nutrition everyday.’ The most important micronutrients that people should consume, to prevent the onset of the condition, as calcium and vitamin D.

Yogurt is a great source of calcium and vitamin D. Many healthier yogurt brands have plenty of calcium and are fortified with vitamin D. Increasing your intake of both is said to have a significant ‘beneficial effect on bone mass,’ no matter your age.

Benefit #3: Yogurt may help people reduce their risk of developing high blood pressure.

According to a study, which followed over 5,000 university graduates in Spain for a period of two years, there’s a link between dairy intake and a risk of high blood pressure.

The study revealed a ’50 percent reduction in the risk of developing high blood pressure,’ mainly among people who ate as much as 2 to 3 servings of low-fat dairy or dairy-free each day. That was compared to people who didn’t consume the dairy every day.

Most of the low-fat dairy consumed during the study was milk, however many researchers believe that low-fat yogurt may produce the same result.

Another Dutch study showed that, too. Higher daily consumption, mainly from milk and yogurt, was found to be ‘linked to lower blood pressure in men and women aged between 50 to 75 years old.’

Benefit #4: Yogurt can help you feel full.

Yogurt can help people feel satiated. That’s what a study from the University of Washington revealed when they researched and tested hunger, fullness and caloric intake among 16 men and 16 women who had consumed a 200 calorie snack.

The snacks used in the study were peach juice, peach-flavored dairy beverages, semi-solid yogurt with peach pieces and drinkable yogurt with peach.

The people who did consume the yogurt didn’t eat fewer calories once they had their next meal. But, the study did discover something interesting. The people who ate both types of yogurt had ‘lower hunger ratings and higher fullness ratings’ than people who had consumed the other snacks. So, the next time you consume yogurt, think about that.

Benefit #5: Yogurt can be consumed by those who are lactose intolerant.

People who are lactose intolerant may not be able to eat dairy products, and a lack of dairy means they miss out on various natural vitamins and nutrients.

But, people with lactose intolerance can eat yogurt. It’s because the lactose in milk gets converted to lactic acid by the bacterial cultures used to create yogurt. That helps lessens the effects of the intolerance. There are also special soy or rise milk yogurt recipes to make yogurt at home with your own yogurt maker.

Making yogurt at home is pretty easy. In fact, you can even make dairy free yogurt right at home, whether you prefer a thicker Greek-style yogurt or a thinner yogurt that’s great in smoothies and other tasty blended drinks.

Dairy free yogurt is a great alternative for people who can’t eat dairy products for health reasons. It’s also great for people who choose not to eat dairy products, such as those on a vegan diet. To accommodate both parties, plenty of dairy free yogurts exist, such as the popular almond milk yogurt and soy milk yogurt.

So, can you actually make almond milk or soy milk yogurt home? Actually, you can. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at soy yogurt and show you how to make soy yogurt at home.

Making Homemade Yogurt: Soy Yogurt

Soy yogurt is yogurt that’s prepared with cultured soy milk. It’s made by heating soy milk and adding yogurt cultures, commonly Streptococcus salivarius subsp, Thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp, Bulgaricus. Many soy yogurt brands also include sweeteners like different sugars and flavorings to enhance its flavor.

This yogurt is suitable for people with dairy intolerant health conditions (like allergies and lactose intolerance) or people who are ovo-vegetarians or vegans.

Of course, you can prepare soy yogurt right at home using the same methods as you would with dairy yogurt. Even though soy milk does lack lactose (milk sugar) needed to promote bacterial fermentation, you can promote the fermentation aspect by mixing about a tablespoon of sugar to every quart of soy milk you use.

And, now for the recipe itself.

Making Homemade Yogurt ~ The Recipe

You don’t actually have to make your own soy milk to produce your own soy yogurt—you can buy your soy milk. And, once you do, don’t forget to get your own ingredients and supplies ready.

Popular Dash yogurt maker

We will continue this article with how to make homemade yogurt but this can easily be updated to make soy yogurt with a yogurt maker. Using a yogurt maker will take all the mixing, handling and time keeping away from you and you can even set a timer to have the fresh yogurt ready whenever you want it to be!

As we’ve mentioned in another article about dairy free yogurts, you can use anything that will hold your yogurt safely to produce the treat. The best thing to use for culturing soy yogurt is a crock pot, naturally just the pot and not the heating pan. The lid and the insulation of the pan work well to keep the yogurt mixture warm without having to use extra insulation like a towel. Not to mention, many crock pots are compact, but hold a lot of liquid.

Other ingredients you need include the yogurt cultures and a good thickener, both preferably dairy free and vegan-friendly.

The yogurt cultures usually come in the form of a yogurt starter or probiotics powder. You can find it online or in health food stores that usually carry vegan food products. You should mix this starter into the milk right after it’s warm to start the culturing, making sure it’s mixed in well.

The thickener can be mixed in before or after the culturing process. Most people use vegan-friendly gelatin, agar or pectin powder. Mix this thickener with a few tablespoons of water before adding into the yogurt mixture.

Now, let’s talk about the actual cooking and culturing process:

Cooking

The cooking process is pretty straightforward. Add your soy milk to a pan and heat it until it gets lukewarm or to body temperature. Once you sense that it’s warm enough, remove it from the heat, so you don’t let the cultures die off once you add them.

If you’re worried about the temperature getting too hot, have a candy thermometer on hand. You want your milk to get a little over 100 degrees Fahrenheit before removing it from heat.

Allow the mixture to cool before you add in your cultures—let it reach a little under 100 degrees Fahrenheit before adding it in. Once it’s cool, add in 4 tablespoons of your starter to the milk and mix it well until it’s completely incorporated.

Culturing

When you culture the yogurt, it needs to stay in a warm and preferably dry place. Pour your milk mixture into the crock pot, after having rinsed it with boiling water to sterilize, and cover with its lid.

Let the mixture culture for about 5 to 10 hours, depending on how thick and tangy you want your yogurt. Once the yogurt gets thick, separate any additional liquid and move the yogurt to another container to chill.

Thickening

If you feel that your soy yogurt is a little too thin, there are ways to thicken it.

You can add thickeners to soy milk before you culture it with the yogurt starter. Add about 1 teaspoon of agar powder, gelatin or pectin powder to the milk when it starts to get hot. Change the amount depending on how thick you want the milk to get. Some people add extra soy protein to thicken their milk, too.

Making Homemade Soy Yogurt: Closing Thoughts

As you can see, making soy yogurt at home is pretty easy when you see how it’s done. We hope our article will help you make tasty soy yogurt at home. Thanks for reading!