Milk vs Yogurt

First off, you don't need to post in several different forums. Just pick one and if you want a topic cross-posted, please send a PM to the Moderator account and specify how you want your topic cross-posted (personally, if I were writing this particular topic, I'd've just put it in this forum, Food & Drink, and not cross-posted it at all). Thanks. :-D

Second, yogurt is made from milk, so many of the same nutrients will be in yogurt. But it truly depends on which brand you're looking at. As you've seen, there's a great deal of processing. Some brands are heavily larded with sugar in order to get kids to eat them. Others are dense because, in an effort to be all-natural, they don't remove any fat.

Milk is nearly always fortified with Vitamin D. Check labels carefully, as low-fat and non-fat aren't the same as 1%, 2%, etc. Skim has no fat, whereas "1%" obtains far more than 1% of its calories from fat.

Plain non-fat yogurt can be mixed with fruit to get a sweet food that doesn't load you up with sugar or fat.

But you can get virtually the same result by blending non-fat milk with fruit and making a smoothie.

The thing with yogurt is that it's got a nutritional vibe going for it which is more a result of good advertising than any particular health virtue. Personally, I love milk and am far more likely to drink milk than eat yogurt. My husband is the opposite, and can't get enough of yogurt. Except for the sodium (which he doesn't have to worry about), it's kind of six of one, half a dozen of the other.

I had to give plain yogurt to my kitten when he was on a heavy course of antibiotics to replace some sort of intestinal flora. He loved it, by the way. Anyway, that seems to be one difference between it and milk, though I do not believe you get the bacterial cultures with anything other than plain yogurt.

We used to make our own yogurt:
Start with milk.
Add a teaspoon of yogurt taken from the last batch.
Wait a couple days.
Done!

(Yogurt is just a bacteria culture that curdles milk, if kept at the right temperature. I don't know what vitamins bacteria poop consists of, but it sure is yummy).



BTW, I've read that excessive protein actually leaches calcium out of our bones. Hence, Americans have high incidence of osteoporosis, from so much meat and dairy. Also, that the protein in milk more than destroys the benefit of any calcium found in the milk.

It's a marketting scam. The dairy council started saying "It does a body good!" only when a lawsuit forced them to stop claiming it helps grow healthy bones. It was false advertising, having no evidence to show that milk helps bones. The dairy council is one of the stronger political groups in Washington, greatly influencing public education, standards, and legislation towards their own interests.

Cheap solution: Eat a Tums or Rolaids every day, and you'll get far more calcium than any dairy product. Not that I'm worried... cows grow very large bones and they eat very few dairy products, mostly just hay.

(Oh great, now I'm digging around for these old articles. Thanks! :-) If you find supporting/opposing research please let me know. )

I generally like the idea of Yogurt and think it is a better body product than milk alone.

Yogurt, Yoghurt, Yourt, or Yoghourt, is semifluid fermented milk.

A nicely to follow description how to make yoghurt yourself:
My Own Yoghurt

I drink milk every day (1%) and on occassion, I'll eat yogurt.

I was just discussing this with my MD, who gave me an equivalency chart. Basically, plain yogurt has more calcium per cup than milk. (I guess that's what's in bacteria poop ) However for most people, it is much easier to down a lot of milk than eat a lot of yogurt.

BTW - One Tums per day is not enough. Also, Tums contains calcium carbonate vs dairy calcium naturally comes in a mix of minerals - calcium, phosphorus and potassium, all really good for bones.

In General...
Adult Males need 1000 mg/ day
at age 65 increased to 1500 mg/ day

Adult Females need 1000 mg/ day
at menopause increased to 1500/ mg


Calcium Content of Milk, Yogurt, Tums

Milk (whole) 1 cup 290 mg.
Milk (2% low fat) 1 cup 295 mg.
Milk (1% low fat) 1 cup 300 mg.
Milk (skim) 1 cup 300 mg.
Yogurt (plain, low fat) 1 cup 415 mg.
Yogurt (flavored, low fat) 1 cup 315 mg.
Yogurt (plain, non fat) 1 cup 450 mg.

TUMS Regular 200 mg each
TUMS EX 300 mg each
TUMS Ultra 400 mg each
TUMS 500 500 mg each

The good news:
Caffe latte (12 oz.) 412 mg
Caffe mocha (12 oz.) 337 mg
Cappuccino (12 oz.) 262 mg

I might be misremembering, but I think I've read that lactose intolerant people can stomach yoghurt, but not milk.

I dunno. I'm not. I've read that some lactose intolerants can drink one glass of milk, but not two and that yogurt has lactose in it, but can sometimes be eaten. Researchers are not sure why. Also without at least one of the three tests, you don't know for sure if you don't have lactase -- it could be something besides the lactose that is causing the upset.

My son had a L-I friend who needed special pills that he left here for pizza times.

Tums also contains arsenic, as determined by analytical methods.
So Tums is not such a good calcium source. Best to drink milk, eat yogurt, have some Swiss cheese, and then have some cottage cheese.

Finally, eat a cup or two of ice cream.

Before you go to bed at night, take a glass of cold milk and add 4 tablespoons of Ovaltine to it. Drink and you'll be happy, rested, and calcium supplemented very well.

My English leaves something to be desired...but at least you all get the point!

First off, I never knew about the "cross-post" procedure before now..thanks for telling me about it, and I really hope it would be both convenient and time saving.
It looks like the yogurt and the milk are sort of siblings..different types of the same family..and I guess they have the same (almost) nutritional benefit?
Correct me if im wrong.

The bacterial culture that turns milk into yogurt is acidophilus, a common homeopathic medication for people with digestive/bacterial stomach trouble. Hence, yogurt is more digestible for people with lactose problems than plain milk. Because of the acidophilus, yogurt is also a good treatment for mild yeast infections, if you are a woman, but perhaps that is too much information.

http://www.etenet.com/Apps/Library/Corporate.asp?ID=1

Acidophilus metabolizes lactose, if I remember right, which is why it's a good alternative for the lactose intolerant. (As is goat's milk -- I guess it doesn't have as much lactose or something.)

If you're just looking for calcium, there are other sources. Dark green veggies (i.e., broccoli), for instance.

Well actually all what im looking for is an alternative for milk. Why? It's just that milk isn't THAT tasty to me, and especially that I use powder milk, it gets messy and sometimes "unfresh" .. while with yogurt I can easily gulp a cupfull every now and then with no problem..it has a better taste and stays fresh for a longer time than the milk does. Powder milk gets messy sometimes and doesn't taste fresh, and pure fresh milk gets spoiled quickly besides it not being that tasty..so im planning to switch to yogurt, in that way I'd be having the same nutrtients of that of the milk, and I can drink it more often and easily.

Hey, if you are eating yogurt, you could cut milk out altogether. We were not designed to drink large quantities of cow's milk anyway. As for the dairy boards: Don't believe the hype! Milk is made by mammals to nurse their babies, then, when they get old enough, they are weaned off of it. Humans are the only species that consumes the milk of other species in large quantity long after they need it. Go figure...

And cow milk is designed to turn a 200 pound calf into a 2000 pound cow. Think about that while you guzzle.

Cheese, on the other hand -- cheese rules.

Here's some good stuff... not milk, not exactly yogurt.

http://www.kefir.net/

Kefir is a lot like a Nepalese lassi.

http://www.cuisinecuisine.com/Lassi.htm

Hmmh, not really, Piffka:

Kefir is more like yoghurt, but with alcohol (originally made of cow milk, now mostly cow milk), while lassi is a kind of Nepalese mik-mix-drink.