Abstract
Background: The health effects of conventional yogurt have been investigated for over a century; however, few systematic reviews have been conducted to assess the extent of the health benefits of yogurt.Objective: The aim of this scoping review was to assess the volume of available evidence on the health effects of conventional yogurt.Methods: The review was guided by a protocol agreed a priori and informed by an extensive literature search conducted in November 2013. Randomized controlled trials were selected and categorized according to the eligibility criteria established in the protocol.Results: 213 studies were identified as relevant to the scoping question. The number of eligible studies identified for each outcome were: bone health (14 studies), weight management and nutrition related health outcomes (81 studies), metabolic health (6 studies); cardiovascular health (57 studies); gastrointestinal health (24 studies); cancer (39 studies); diabetes (13 studies), Parkinson's disease risk (3 studies), all-cause mortality (3 studies), skin complaints (3 studies), respiratory complaints (3 studies), joint pain/function (2 studies); the remaining 8 studies reported a variety of other outcomes. For studies of a similar design and which assessed the same outcomes in similar population groups, we report the potential for the combining of data across studies in systematic reviews.Conclusions: This scoping review has revealed the extensive evidence base for many outcomes which could be the focus of systematic reviews exploring the health effects of conventional yogurt consumption.
Highlights
Yogurt consumption has been associated with health and wellbeing for hundreds of years, but scientific research efforts on the potential health effects of conventional yogurt mainly started during the last century
The objective of this scoping review was to assess the volume of evidence for the health effects of yogurt consumption
The scoping review focused on conventional yogurt as defined by the Codex Alimentarius
Summary
Yogurt consumption has been associated with health and wellbeing for hundreds of years, but scientific research efforts on the potential health effects of conventional yogurt mainly started during the last century. While a range of research designs have been employed to examine the health effects of yogurt, including observational studies (Cramer et al, 1989; Arslantas et al, 2008; Dawczynski and Jahreis, 2009) and experimental studies (Bonjour et al, 2013; Douglas et al, 2013), systematic reviews (and meta-analyses when appropriate) have been conducted in relation to only a few health outcomes (Tong et al, 2011; Aune et al, 2012, 2013; Soedamah-Muthu et al, 2012; Gao et al, 2013; O’Sullivan et al, 2013). Bulgaricus (Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products, 2010) It states that yogurt obtained through fermentation of milk by cultures of Streptococcus thermophilus and any other Lactobacillus species should be named through the use of an appropriate qualifier in conjunction with the word yogurt. The health effects of conventional yogurt have been investigated for over a century; few systematic reviews have been conducted to assess the extent of the health benefits of yogurt
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