Yoghurt can reduce risk of having disease

yinka ogunlami

March 8, 2016 4:44 PM

Recent research by the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention/Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health 2016 Scientific Sessions has shown that the regular consumption of yoghurt can reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure.

Yoghurt can reduce risk of having disease

Recent research by the

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According to the reports, data of diet and lifestyle of patients with high blood pressure was collected from the Nurses' Health Study cohorts (NHS and NHS II) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) over a duration of 2 to 3 decades to examine the effects of yoghurt consumption.

The researchers identified 74,609 new cases of high blood pressure after 18 to 30 years of follow-up. Women who consumed 5 or more servings of yogurt per week had significant reductions in the risk of high blood pressure compared with those consuming 0 to 1 serving per week (23% reduction in the NHS and 17% in NHS II) after adjustment for age, race, family history of high blood pressure, physical activity, and other confounding variables.

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No reduced risk was seen for men in the HPFS. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) score modified the beneficial effect of yogurt, with the strongest effect seen for those in the highest tertile of DASH scores.

"No one food is a magic bullet but adding yogurt to an otherwise healthy diet seems to help reduce the long-term risk of high blood pressure in women," Justin R. Buendia, from the Boston University School of Medicine says.

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