Eating yogurt is good for your heart

High blood pressure is widespread and impacts about one billion people across the globe. The condition increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death worldwide.

It’s been proven that dairy consumption has a positive impact on heart health and has been associated with beneficial effects on high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and insulin resistance.

Now, a new study found that eating yogurt specifically could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with high blood pressure.

A team of researchers who specialize in nutritional science and epidemiology conducted the study, which was published in the American Journal of Hypertension.

The results showed that consuming yogurt was linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease among men and women with hypertension.

For the study, the team collected and analyzed data from two previous studies, the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

The Nurses’ Study included 55,000 women ages 30 to 55 with high blood pressure, while the Health Professionals Study included 18,000 men ages 40 to 75.

The Nurses’ Health Study had participants fill out a 61 item questionnaire that included questions about dietary intake and any diagnosed heart issues such as myocardial infarction, stroke, and revascularization.

In the two studies, there were 5,448 reported cases of cardiovascular disease among the participants.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found a link between eating yogurt and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

Among the Nurses’ Health participants, a high consumption of yogurt correlated with a 30 percent reduction in risk of heart attack for women and a 19 percent lower risk in men in the Health Professional study.

The results showed that in both men and women with high blood pressure, eating two or more servings of yogurt a week was linked to a 20 percent lower risk of heart disease

“We hypothesized that long-term yogurt intake might reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems since some previous small studies had shown beneficial effects of fermented dairy products,”  said Justin Buendia, the study’s lead author. “Our results provide important new evidence that yogurt may benefit heart health alone or as a consistent part of a diet rich in fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.”

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By Kay Vandette, Earth.com Staff Writer