Newswise — June is Dairy Month, which makes it a great time to think about whether you and your family are getting the recommended three servings a day of dairy products. Many people simply can't drink that much milk every day, so they often use yogurt to supplement their dairy intake. But with so many varieties of yogurt available, many family shoppers have no idea what they're really getting when they put that yogurt container in the shopping cart.
Since the nutritional value of yogurt can vary wildly, what you get may be a lot more calories and fat " and a lot less calcium " than you'd bargained for. That's why Healthcastle.com, the largest nutrition network run by Registered Dietitians, is proud to announce the launch of the new yogurt category on their Go UnDiet "Packaged Food Review tool
"The most important things to know about the yogurt you choose are the amount of calcium, the calories and fat, and amount of sugar or artificial sweeteners used," said Gloria Tsang, RD, founder of HealthCastle.com .
The Go UnDiet - Packaged Food Review tool provides all of this information, plus an "RD's take" summary to help interpret the nutrition facts. For those who want to skip the analysis, the tool allows users to simply sort products by the amount of fat, calories, calcium, sugar, fiber, carbs, and more.
A few quick sorts reveal that for individual yogurt containers, calcium ranges from 15% to 30% of the daily recommended value, calories range from 70 to 210, and sugar varies from 10.5 to 31.5 grams per serving " a difference of at least 100% for all three categories.
"Families with children should keep an eye on sugar and sweeteners," Tsang said. "Women may want to focus more on the amount of calcium per serving. And anyone who's eating a lot of yogurt should keep an eye on the calories and fat."
In addition to sorting, you can do a side-by-side comparison, and based on what's most important for your family, you can choose the brand that best suits your needs.
This dairy month, it's time to finally learn what's in your favorite yogurt brand " and whether you might want to consider making a switch. Since yogurt offers protein, Vitamin B12, riboflavin, potassium, magnesium, and zinc as well as calcium, it's one staple food you can feel good about eating " as long as you're making your decisions based on the real nutrition facts.
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