The food industry has a reputation of taking incredibly healthy items and turning them into processed junk food and this is exactly what has happened to most yogurts available on the market. The Cornucopia Institute just came out with a very revealing report (an investigation that took 2 years!) about what’s in yogurt, and how giant food corporations, led by General Mills (Yoplait), Groupe Danone (Dannon), Walmart, and PepsiCo are saturating the market with less nutritious yogurt. Conventional yogurt usually comes from milk produced by cows that are confined and unable to graze in open pasture. They’re usually fed GMO grains, not grass. As the yogurt ferments, chemical defoamers are sometimes added. Then high doses of artificial sweeteners, sugar, or high fructose corn syrup are sometimes added too. That’s not all: colors, preservatives, and gut-harmful carrageenan can be dumped in. These practices alarm me, since yogurt has been such a healthy, longevity-promoting food for ages.
While all of these practices and controversial additives have completely ruined yogurt, what I found most disturbing in the report are the eye-opening claims about what might be in yogurt that isn’t as obvious – and may not even be on the label. Cornucopia was shocked by their own findings and filed a formal complaint with the FDA, asking them to investigate some yogurts on the market because they don’t appear to even meet the legal definition of yogurt!
Surprising Things That Can Be In Yogurt:
HFCS-90 – This variation of high fructose corn syrup contains way more fructose than regular high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). When HFCS-90 is used, the ingredient label won’t indicate that high fructose corn syrup is an ingredient, rather it can be deceptively listed as simply “fructose” or “fructose syrup” without any reference to corn syrup. Regular HFCS contains up to 55% fructose, whereas HFCS-90 has 90% fructose by weight. That’s 9 times more fructose than the average fruit! An overload of fructose in the diet isn’t healthy because diets that are high in fructose are associated with obesity and cardiovascular disease. HFCS-90 is derived from corn starch, which is likely GMO. It’s totally misleading when companies say that fructose is natural and comes from fruit, when it’s a processed additive typically derived from GMO corn.
Neosugar – This is a highly processed form of sugar made by hydrolyzing liquid GMO sugar beets or sugar cane. It’s so heavily processed that your body can’t digest it and it just passes through you like a fiber. It’s also marketed as a prebiotic, but there isn’t much evidence out there that neosugar is more beneficial than real food and it appears to just be a marketing ploy. Natural prebiotics are found naturally in raw fruits and vegetables. According to Dr. Michael Blaut, “It is questionable whether a wholesome diet rich in fruit and vegetables needs to be supplemented with prebiotics for optimal health effects”. Some names used by industry for neosugar are “Nutraflora” and “Fructan”, which is how you may see it listed on the ingredient label. Beware that neosugar is allowed in organic yogurt. Thankfully, the only organic company that is currently known to use neosugar is Horizon, so it’s pretty easy to avoid.
Dimethylpolysiloxane – You’ve heard me refer to this chemical in the past as the silly putty ingredient that’s widely used as a defoamer in oil fryers at restaurants, and famously used in McDonalds french fries and soda fountains. Turns out that it can also be used during the processing of yogurt – and it’s not labeled, even if residues remain in the final product. One of the biggest issues I’ve got with dimethylpolysiloxane is that the FDA allows it to be preserved with formaldehyde, one of the most highly toxic substances on earth. As Cornucopia highlights in their report, most of the safety studies that have been done on dimethylpolysiloxane were conducted or paid for by the chemical companies, and not enough independent research has been done. Every yogurt company I called – Dannon, Chobani, Zoi, Greek Gods – emphatically denied that they use any anti-foaming chemicals, except for one. Yoplait (General Mills) told us it was proprietary information and “We’re sorry, but we don’t share processing information”.
Nanoparticles – There’s a big controversy surrounding the results of a 2012 study that found titanium dioxide in Dannon yogurt. In May, Mother Jones reported that Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt contained the nanoparticle titanium dioxide, but have since retracted this from their article following Dannon’s claims that, “We don’t use any ingredients in Dannon plain yogurt that contain titanium dioxide. In the event we use an added color in our products we label it as an added ingredient”. I also contacted Dannon, and they confirmed this information. However, microscopic particles of titanium dioxide (nanoparticles) can be used as an artificial color to make white foods whiter and brighter. According to Friends of the Earth, there’s been “a tenfold increase in unregulated, unlabeled “nanofood” products on the American market since 2008… made by major companies including Kraft, General Mills, Hershey, Nestle, Mars, Unilever, Smucker’s and Albertsons. But due to a lack of labeling and disclosure, a far greater number of food products with undisclosed nanomaterials are likely currently on the market”. This concerns me because nanoparticles have been shown to carry risks to human health and the environment, and nanoparticles of titanium dioxide are specifically linked to gastrointestinal inflammation.
Synthetic Pesticides – Yogurts that contain fruit likely contain synthetic pesticide residues unless they are organic. Berries are the most popular fruits found in yogurts, and they’re also on the EWG’s Dirty Dozen List of the most contaminated produce. The pectin that is added to some yogurts may also contain another dose of pesticides, as it’s made from conventional fruit. The National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the President’s Cancer Panel all warn about the health dangers of consuming pesticides found on conventional produce.
What’s Missing From Many Popular Yogurts?
Probiotics – The “Live and Active Cultures” seal on a container of yogurt does not guarantee that any probiotics are actually in the yogurt by the time you eat it – it only verifies they were there when it was manufactured. The addition of artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose may compound this problem because they’ve been shown to be antimicrobials that also have the ability to kill beneficial bacteria in the gut, which warrants more research. (sources: 1, 2). Cornucopia sent yogurt samples to the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s Food Processing Center to test for probiotic content, and what they found was astonishing. Several yogurts were found to have less than the required 100 million cultures per gram including Chobani, Walmart Great Value, Yoplait Go-Gurt, LaLa Cult, and Dannon Danimals Smoothies.
Fruit – I know it’s ridiculous, but some fruit-flavored yogurts on the shelves don’t contain any fruit, and are solely flavored with artificial and natural flavors. Yoplait calls one of their flavors “Strawberry Banana Burst GoGurt” but it doesn’t have any strawberries or bananas in it. You also won’t find any fruit in Greek God’s Honey & Strawberry Yogurt, and yogurts targeting children like Dannon Danimals Strawberry Slide Greek Yogurt. The natural and artificial flavors that are used to mimic the taste of fruit are designed to keep you coming back to eat more. As explained by flavor manufacturer Nature’s Flavors, “The trick to making a product taste good is to give the customer only enough flavor to tease their taste buds. You never want to completely satisfy their tastes”. Do you really want to be eating fake flavors that were manufactured to keep you unsatisfied and wanting more, or would you rather just eat real fruit and all the nutrients that come with it?
Beneficial Fat – Cornucopia commissioned the University of Nebraska’s lab to study the nutritional profile of several yogurts, specifically for the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids and the levels of beneficial fats such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). They found that organic yogurt contained better fat ratios and way more CLA than conventional yogurt. Chobani yogurt came out the worst, compared with Cedar Summit Farm’s organic yogurt coming out on top with nearly 20 times more CLA than Chobani.
Always Choose Organic Yogurt.
Last month I broke down for you all the big reasons to only choose organic dairy products, including yogurt, which is corroborated in Cornucopia’s report. When you choose organic, you avoid:
- Genetically Modified Ingredients (GMO) – Most sweeteners in yogurt come from GMOs. Whenever you see high fructose corn syrup, fructose, or sugar on the ingredient list it’s a pretty safe bet that it’s derived from GMO corn or GMO beet sugar.
- Growth Hormone Drugs – Banned in over 30 countries, linked to cancer, and may increase the incidence of painful mastitis in cows (requiring antibiotics).
- Herbicides & Pesticides – Residues from chemical herbicides and pesticides end up in our food and water, and also contaminate the food of dairy cows. It’s possible that these chemicals are passing through to their milk, which have been linked to kidney disease and other diseases in humans.
How To Choose The Best Yogurt:
The only kind of yogurt I recommend is plain organic yogurt (greek or regular), which you can sweeten yourself with fresh fruit, raw honey or maple syrup. Cornucopia built a great reference, a Yogurt Buyer’s Guide, which rates 114 yogurt brands from best to worst based on these criteria:
- Organic vs. Conventional
- Thickeners and Stabilizers
- Carrageenan
- Artificial Sweeteners
- Added sugar
- Artificial coloring
- Flavors
- Synthetic nutrients
- Milk Protein Concentrate
- Preservatives
They ultimately recommend minimally processed organic brands that are either sometimes grass-fed or 100% grass-fed. These include: Traders Point Creamery, Maple Hill Creamery, Nancy’s, Organic Valley, Kalona, Wallaby Organic, and Clover Stornetta, Stonyfield, and regional brands such as Butterworks Farm, Seven Stars, Straus, Hawthorne Valley Farm, and Cedar Summit. By doing so, we support organic farmers, protect our environment, encourage humane treatment of animals, and ensure good health for ourselves and our families.
Cornucopia also conducted a cost analysis and found that many of the organic yogurts that they recommend are cheaper (per ounce) than conventional over-processed yogurts (including yogurts that are marketed for children) – Yeah! You can read Cornucopia’s complete report, “Culture Wars: How the Food Giants Turned Yogurt, a Health Food, into Junk Food” here.
Because I know many of you might ask, my personal favorite is Traders Point Creamery (found at Whole Foods & Healthy Home Market), I love that it comes in a glass jar and not plastic and is made from cows fed a 100% organic grass-fed diet.
You can also, of course, make your own yogurt, which my mother has been doing since I can remember! She still makes it for me so I don’t have to buy it that often. I would start with the best ingredients of course – grass-fed organic (and raw – if you can find it) milk would be ideal. Here’s her recipe:
- 4 cups grass-fed organic milk
- 3 tablespoons plain organic yogurt (purchased or homemade)* or powdered yogurt starter (amount specified on package)**
- Place milk in pot on stove, heat and until milk starts to bubble (medium high heat)
- Stir consistently to prevent skin from forming
- Cool milk until it is luke warm - about 110-115 degrees
- Add organic yogurt or yogurt culture to the milk
- Pour mixture into small glass jars or one large glass container
- Place lid on containers, put a towel over them and store in a draft free place at room temperature
- Yogurt should be complete in about 6-8 hours
- Place yogurt in fridge for at least 2 hours before serving
- Store yogurt in fridge for up to 1 week
Please share this information with your friends and family – it’s absolutely critical we know what’s in our yogurt and stop supporting the junk versions of this very otherwise healthy food!
Xo,
Vani
P.S. If you like investigations like this, you will love my new upcoming book The Food Babe Way. It’s available right now for pre-order at a special extra 30% off on Amazon with code “HOLIDAY30” (all uppercase). This will likely be the lowest price ever available so get it now! Offer is only good until Midnight tonight 12/1! (Please note – this coupon code is only good for one hardcover book per account).
Please tell me chobani plain Greek yogurt is good?? It’s affordable from BJs for my little ones and we flavor with raw honey . We eat about a tub every 2 days!!
You can check the full report from Cornucopia – but Chobani is mostly conventional and doesn’t contain as much nutrients as the rest! If you are eating and buying yogurt, it’s important to buy the healthiest!
Unfortunately, Chobani gets milk from cows fed GMO feed (corn), and they were kicked off Whole Foods shelves.
Unfortunately, Chobani feeds their cows GMO feed (corn), and were kicked off Whole Foods shelves for that reason.
Yes, and that’s why I stopped buying it while ago!
I think it depends on the ingredients. It’s not organic, so for some that is a deal breaker. Follow the link to the cornucopia study — it explains how plain dannon yogurt would be ok while the flavored ones would not. Also just look out for the ingredients highlighted by foodbabe.
I worked on that report with Cornucopia! I did the research and reporting on sweeteners, including HFCS-90. Really happy to see you post it here. Thanks Vani!
Thank you for sharing this on yogurt. I know from reading labels that most yogurts are really bad for you. I’m wondering though, being vegan, I try to buy soy, rice or coconut yogurts. Did the Cornucopia Institute do any research on non dairy yogurts? I try to find yogurts without sugars in the grocery stores and they are very few and far between. I would like to find some that are healthy. Thanks for any help you can offer.
What about yogurts in the tubes? I know Gogurt is JUNK and full of sugar, so which one are okay to buy? Thank you 🙂
How do we find those organic yogurts? Our Walmarts do not sell those brands. My 14yr old daughter was diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic, and your website and emails have helped me a lot in changing what foods she consumes. I know that I did not cause the t1d, but I believe that the foods/drinks she has eaten in the past could have caused issues in her body to make this disease show itself. So changing our eating habits is very expensive. As a single mom with very little help, it is hard, but it is happening. Little by little, we are weaning our family off the processed foods we have been so used to eating, thanks to you! So where can I find these yogurts? We live just outside of Savannah, GA and the only healthy place to buy groceries that I know of is in Savannah and it’s expensive!
If you have a Super Target nearby, you can get some of the recommended ones there…. 🙂
Target has such a great selection of organic products!
Seriously try to make it yourself. You can do it!
I use Stonyfield but do you recommend the whole milk, lowfat, or fat free one?
Always use whole fat dairy products, as low fat and fat free are going to be processed, meaning more denatured food in your diet.
The only brand I can find locally is Stoneyfield …I was thrilled to find Organic but so disappointed with it.. They use pectin to the extent that the consistency is like thick mucus …actually stretches as you spoon it into a dish. Does not feel/taste healthy.
Dilute w/water. You’ll have more yogurt to boot.
I recently found out that Wegmans grocery store has it’s own Organic Plain Greek Yogurt .. and it’s delicious! ‘Wegmans organic milk comes from a close-knit cooperative of regional family farms in New York known as Upstate Farms.’ 16 g of protein per serving. I add chia seeds, red ape cinnamon and walnuts .. perfect snack!
Wegmans is THE BEST! It’s one of many things that I miss terribly since moving to NC from WNY.
No worries. I moved from CNY long ago. Yes, you miss Wegman’s, but that’s about it. Seeing the Sun with less taxes should remedy your angst.
What about coconut milk yogurts? I almost NEVER eat yogurt from dairy…any insight would be most appreciated.
I’m with you. I don’t do dairy either and have found it hard to find a good non-dairy yogurt. I have bought the unsweetened coconut milk yogurt, but look at the ingredients….there is still a bunch of junk in there. I am close to trying to make my own because of that. But, in a pinch depending on what I need yogurt for, I have also found that Food Babe’s recipe for her chia seed fruit salad works just like a yogurt. I just take my homemade almond milk and soak it with some chia seeds, maybe a little orange squeeze, some cinnamon and vanilla. Sometimes I add the coconut flakes she calls for. It will thicken up just like a “yogurt” without all the junk in it! Maybe that will help in our quest for a non-dairy “real food” yogurt! 🙂
THANKS – I will have to try that recipe! Blessings – bp
Maybe it’s time to stop eating yogurt.
How about Fage? I eat the All natural/nonfat/ Greek strained yogurt. I did not see it mentioned in your report.
I was afraid to ask… 🙂
Fage is on the cornucopia list, ranked somewhere in the middle. It is not organic by USDA standards but since it’s made in Greece it’s hard to tell how their cows are fed. They probably don’t get the GMO feed corn American cows are fed.
I am soooo stuck on Fage yogurt!! I’ve tried some of the organic brands but didn’t like them as much as Fage. I was VERY DISAPPOINTED with Stonyfield which I believe is made by Dannon…..which as far as I’m concerned, doesn’t say much for Stonyfield!!
It has been my understanding that GMOs are not permitted in Europe so perhaps Fage, while not organic, is pretty clean…..and the flavor is amazing!!! This yogurt is my one concession…everything else I consume is either organic or on the “clean 15” list.
So, my fingers are crossed behind my back!!. I’m hoping that since it is made in Greece it is prepared as cleanly as possible…AND by the way, it’s Dr. Oz’s favorite and he’s pretty darn fussy!!
Unfortunately fage has a facility in Johnstown, NY since 2008 so therefore it’s NOT MADE in Greece! This yogurt tastes completely different in Greece, where the cows graze on open fields. Sorry.
What about goats milk yogurt from trader joes? I am allergic to milk and can stomach goats milk. Is it safe?
What about Fage yogurt? Is that on the bad list?
Check the link — the cornucopia post rates Fage and just about every brand out there. I think it falls in the middle of the pack — not organic so would not be recommended by FB.
I, too, am wondering about Fage. I get their plain Greek yogurt.
Can you recommend Trader Joes organic yogurt?
Can the homemade yogurt be made with almond milk? We do not drink cow’s milk, even organic. Thanks! And I love your website – so informative.
Thank you Vani. We need you to run the FDA instead of the corrupt bought creeps who allow the food supply to become rotten like them.
If things are labeled “organic” does that mean they are “non-GMO”?
Organic always means non-GMO. You cannot have an organic product that contains GMOs or it could not be labelled organic. Simple basic truth of which you can rest assured. ;D Hope that encourages you.
What about Brown Cow?
I would like to know about Brown Cow, as well. We regularly eat the vanilla flavored.
Jennifer-
How now, Brown Cow?
Jim
I want to make my own yogurt at home, but am extremely allergic to all cow’s milk. Do you have recipes for coconut/soy milk yogurts? Would be greatly appreciated.
I absolutely love Traders Point yogurt! They also come in large old fashion milk jars (if you live in Indiana, I’m not sure about elsewhere). Also, their chocolate milk is to DIE for!
Vani, if you’re ever in Indianapolis, you have an invitation to join me for dinner there! It’s an amazing organic restaurant directly on the farm. Best food I’ve ever had.
Kristin 🙂
Count me in!!!
Thanks for your mom’s recipe. I am going to make my own now from grass fed milk.
I can get organic but not grass fed yogurt in my area.
Also, I read something else that is truly a Food Babe worthy investigation. The Healthy Home Economist posted on her blog a couple of weeks ago about her investigation into conventional wheat and how it is sprayed with Roundup before harvesting! It literally made me sick to my stomach. If this was made public can you imagine the outrage??!!
Her point was not only about the chemicals but that perhaps people aren’t allergic to gluton—that it’s the Roundup causing all the problems.
She cites her findings through FDA. I am sickened to hear this.
Please let us all know if this is true!
Mary-
Good points!
Feel free to bellow life a beagle on a hot rabbit track!
Jim
“…like a beagle…”
Snopes.com states that this is not true.
Thanks for this. Been making my own for over a year now, using instructions I found here: http://www.eatingfromthegroundup.com/2012/05/crock-pot-greek-yogurt/. We sweeten with fruit and honey, and usually add nuts and chia seeds.
The commercial yoghurts are beyond trash food. I didn’t see pork gelatin on your list, but yes, it’s there. Luckily I have a good variety of high quality Organic Yoghurts from trusted makers. Even then I only buy the full fat natural , unsweetened, no fruit, cause if it says Natural Flavour it’s that trash flavour from Sweden. I suspect that all fruit added Yoghurt, even Organic, has been pasteurized to avoid fermentation and spoilage of the fruit.Generally I make my own . It’s so simple. A fraction of the retail cost. And nut milks can also be made into yoghurt, as can ,”milk,” made from sprouts/sprouts plus water. A couple of caps, opened of course, of a good probiotic is all that’s needed.
what about Fage ?
I’ve been eating goat yogurt for over 10 years. It is so good and even a bit tangy, but so much easier on the digestion. You can get it at Sprouts and Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. I only buy the plain variety but it comes in a few flavors like blueberry and vanilla and maybe others. I don’t buy sour cream but I use this yogurt instead.
Just wanted to say watch out for the individual Stonyfield Yo-Baby and Yo-Kids yogurt! The large containers of the plain whole milk yogurt are fine but the 6-packs and pouches of yogurt contain sugar, vegetable or fruit juices for color (which is not bad but why does it need added color?), and the infamous “natural flavors”. I thought I was feeding my baby genuinely good stuff and then I read the ingredient list… So now I buy the large containers of plain yogurt and mash up some fresh fruit for her. It took a little while for her to get used the the taste but now she loves it!
The Seven Stars yogurt is really good. The only yogurt I’ve ever been able to eat plain.
Why have you not included Strauss yogurt as a god one to buy?
Does anyone have information on Siggis? Particularly the yogurt tubes for kids.
I use full fat yogurt with natural cultures. If you want sweeteners, fruit, or whatever, you can add your own. It is silly to buy low-fat or non-fat yogurt. This article and the cornucopia ratings ignore the fact that most of these manufacturers produce several different varieties of yogurt. Within each manufacturer selection there may be a mix of what I find to be acceptable and unacceptable varieties.
I had settled on my “go to” varieties of yogurt and sour cream and a couple of months ago our local supermarket stopped stocking the sour creams. The sour cream from one manufacturer was available in five different varieties, of which only two suited me. They are both gone.
Jim
How about SO DELICIOUS DAIRY FREE Almond Milk? I’m sensitive to dairy so this seems a wonderful alternative. I also try to limit the amount of sugar in my food and their vanilla only has 13 grams.
Thanks!!!.
I live in Lakeview, Oregon. Total population 2,000 people. The saying “You can’t get there from here”…. was invented to mean Lakeview!. Many of the products you investigate and find healthy aren’t available at our one Safeway grocery store… no others closer than 90 miles away. I’m 75 years old, no health problems (!!!!!) and am slowly changing over to Organic everything. A little more $$$ but well worth it. Yogurt is a daily staple. I buy “Mountain High” Lowfat, Vanilla. Ingredients: Cultured Pasteurized Low Fat Milk, Cane Sugar, Pectin, Natural Flavors (? this last ingredient is questionable),
Vanilla Extract, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D, Contains Live and Active Cultures.
The container claims “No gelatin or funny stuff. No artificial sweeteners, flavors or colors, Milk has not been treated with growth hormones.” Thank you for helping the public choose healthier food! If the information on the package is truthful this sounds like a healthy yogurt. What do you think about this brand? I copied your recipe for home made yogurt and will give it a try. Thank you so much!
Monica Lawson-
Might I recommend Mountain High Original Style Plain?
Jim
I can check to see if the local Safeway carries “Mountain High, Plain” . I have my own fruit from garden which I add to my yogurt every day. If it’s available I will try it.
Natural flavor is just like synthetic flavor, made in a lab. There is no legal definition of “natural” when it comes to food labeling. Always buy the whole milk plain organic. Yogurt will always be good past the date on the tub. If the whey settles out, drink it or stir it in. You can put in fruit, maple syrup, honey, cane sugar, nuts, cacao nibs, cocoa powder. There is never any reason to waste your hard earned money on this flavored junk from these money grabbing corps.
We buy Liberte from Canada. The ingredients look good. Did we miss anything??
Yep, not organic. CAFO milk is not good for making yogurt.
Hello Vani –
I really appreciated your recent yogurt investigation, but I couldn’t find mention of Greek yogurts (like Fage?)…could you break those down for us too?
Hi Vani!
Thanks for this research. I have been making my own yogurt from low fat organic milk for the past 10 years or so and I absolutely love it.My family consists of 3 people and we consume almost half a gallon of yogurt in a week.
Nothing can beat homemade yogurt:)
~Big fan from CA
If you are a male, you might consider just doing without yogurt and any dairy products ie. casein- containing foods. The documentary “Forks Over Knives” came out a while back. They also wrote The China Study, a huge book with lots of stuff to consider. Even if the conclusions are generally correlational studies, they are long term and by two eminent and courageous scientists who have battled the dairy lobby for years. A whole new diet and cookbooks, etc., is coming out of their studies as happens with everything but even abstracting just a few ideas could be helpful to your health Do I want to triple my odds of getting prostate cancer by eating dairy? Uh, let me think a minute…
And for females, dairy has been implicated by scientists in ovarian cancer. Also, Dr Jane Plante who battled breast cancer 4 times finally got it under control when she quit eating dairy.
Just an FYI, Stoneyfeild is made by Dannone. The order in which Dannon factories produce yogurt, after CIP (cleaning and sterlization of lines and equipment) is organic, then kosher, then all other products. This is to be sure there is no cross contamination of the organic and kosher products by these non acceptable ingredients. I temp-ed there. I thought I’d share.
What about Greek God’s??
Thanks!
My husband brought home cappuccino flavored Oikos greek yogurt the other day. When I read the label, they didn’t call it yogurt. It was called a dairy food! What is the difference? I felt deceived.
Have you researched or know of any ice cream companies that do not use careganeen in their products?
Check out Talenti
No carrageenan and BPA-free containers 🙂
David, not entirely true. Some of their newer flavours do contain carrageenan. Check ingredients always. I used to eat their ice cream religiously.
Vani,
I found two outstanding yogurts that demand our attention here.
Both are Bulgarian style yogurts, Organic and grass fed.
White mountain Bulgarian yogurt. Fat free, but actually lists the probiotic concentration on the label, and states up to 90 billion organisms per serving.
First of all I have never seen this on a yogurt label anywhere. (Most companies just state “with active or live cultures”. ) secondly, this concentration of probiotics from a food source is virtually unheard of. I prescribe supplemental concentrations with either 30 billion or 100 billion per capsule to give this relevance. I shared this with my colleague Dr. Mullin, an integrative gastroenterologist from Hopkins and he was equally impressed.
Then I found Trimona, another Bulgarian yogurt. This one is full fat and does not list the probiotic concentration but is made from organic grass fed milk.
Both outstanding plain yogurts. Enjoy!
i suggest making yogurt at home using organic milk. It’s simple to make and worth its weight in gold.
How about SIGGI Islandic yogurt…high in protein and very low in sugar..but doesnt say organic?
The only yogurt I use is the MYO brand using organic whole milk. I love Greek yogurt too and only use MYO brand by draining off whey. The whey can then be used in soup, to water plants in the garden, give to the chickens or drink it. Waste factor: a gallon milk container – glass jars are used over and over. All the Greek yogurt on grocery store shelves is causing a problem for the environment: what to do with all the whey; it is acid therefore polluting water and harmful to the environment.
New homesteaders in our 50’s and health is the reason .We have a dairy goat now and make yogurt once a week.
It’s so easy to make, just pick up some organic milk and cultures. We use a heating pad set on warm ( like the kind you use for your back) and wrap the pan with the heating pad and towel.
We have made it two ways, one heating milk to 160 then cooling to 110 adding cultures but we prefer to only heat our fresh raw goat milk to 110 then add the culture, although we only get one batch from the culture we think it is worth it.
Honestly. If you want real food, you have to work for it. I would NEVER buy yogurt at a grocery store not even organic, to me dairy products are things that need to be picked up from the source. Wallaby for example is made/produced in California… the time it takes to travel to my fridge alone bothers me. Look online at local dairy farmers in your area. Travel to each of them and ask them questions, they are generally more than happy to tell you about their animals especially if they take extra care to give them grass fed diets only. There is a dairy farmer near where I live called Hastings farm, I look forward to going and getting fresh eggs and REAL greek yogurt every week. I kid you not when you get the food from the source, you’ll cringe at what you previously thought was greek yogurt. PLEASE I beg you to work for your food. Support local farmers who are trying to do it right, stop being lazy and get out of the grocery store!!!
I have been making my own soy yogurt for years … healthy, delicious, versatile and cheap. I use only plain unsweetened organic soy milk and a vegan yogurt starter, so there is nothing in the yogurt except all the good things and no additives at all. Thick and creamy as is, or drained a little and with some added herbs and spices for a great dip, or with a some sweetener and flavors such as vanilla for a dessert cream.
My daughter recently called me from college to tell me she would no longer buy organic yogurt. When I asked her why, she said because she went to 2 different stores looking for a decent one and she said the organic ones had way more questionable ingredients that the non-organic. Yes, I know Strauss and others contain simple ingredients, but many others dont. Read your ingredients closely when buying yogurt…organic or not.
Maple Hill Creamery is a small local family run business here in Upstate NY. They sell at local markets and the local Whole Foods. The best yogurt ever and 100% grassfed!