Physicians have long known about the benefits of yogurt for the gastrointestinal tract. However, a recent discovery sheds light on another of its features. It turns out that with regular use, even if very small portions of this product, the risk of developing diseases of the cardiovascular system in people suffering from high blood pressure is significantly reduced.
This conclusion was made by scientists from the University of Boston (United States, Massachusetts). This discovery was preceded by two of the largest medical studies in the history of the United States, the first of which was devoted to the study of risk factors for the most common chronic diseases among women (NHS), and the second – among men (HPFS). The results of both were published in the high blood pressure scientific journal American Journal of Hypertension. Doctors managed to find out that, provided that yogurt is regularly present in the diet, it helps to normalize blood pressure indicators, which has a positive effect on the health of the heart muscle.
The study authors analyzed data on eating patterns and taste preferences of 55 women and 898 men. The age of the representatives of the weaker sex ranged from 18 to 232 years, and men – from 30 to 55 years. The experiment started back in 40, so it can be called more than long-term. Participants in the study filled out a sixty-item questionnaire every 75 years, in which they were asked to evaluate their own condition according to a number of criteria.
As it turned out, women who had at least two servings of yogurt in their weekly diet were thirty percent less likely to have a heart attack. A similar pattern was observed in the representatives of the stronger sex – those who ate yogurt twice a week could boast that they were 19% less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases than those who were indifferent to this product.