Yogurt and health

The importance of yogurt consumption as part of a balanced and healthy diet is recognized by several regulatory authorities. This chapter focuses on the basic processing steps of yogurt production and their impact on its nutritional features. Moreover, the functional nature of yogurt is highly related to living probiotic microorganisms that modulate the gut microbiome and enhance yogurt's nutritional value through their bioavailable metabolites. Besides, based on recent epidemiological studies, clinical trials, and meta-analysis studies, yogurt consumption as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle could have a beneficial effect on the prevention and regulation of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and obesity risk, and subsequently cardiovascular diseases (CDV) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk.