Yogurt - Heartburn Relief And Much More
By Clive Chung

Yogurt is very good for digestive health. The bacteria in yogurt decompose protein, making it easier for the resulting amino acids to be absorbed in the digestive tract. These bacteria also predigest lactose, sugar found in milk, by producing the enzyme lactase. This allows people who suffer from lactose intolerance to eat yogurt because this people are unable to consume milk products.

Also, yogurt can reduce the amount of disease-causing microbes within the intestines. Generally, a state of imbalance develops when bad bacteria in the intestines start to overwhelm the good bacteria. This imbalance can lead to disorders in both digestive tract itself and the body at large, including life-threatening illnesses such as bowel cancer. The bacteria in yogurt can help restore the intestines to a state of health.

In addition to helping digestion, yogurt gives us other health benefits:

• Experiments have shown that yogurt cultured with friendly bacteria significantly reduces the blood cholesterol level in rats. It may also have the same effect on human. People who drink more than two quarts of fermented milk a day will have low levels of cholesterol in their bloodstreams.
• Yogurt contains healthy amounts of several important nutrients, including the vitamins B, especially folic acid, and calcium, a third more than milk cup for cup. In addition, commercially produced yogurt is often thickened with milk solids, and thus contains more protein than plain milk.
• Yogurt has been shown to boost the body’s ability to fight invaders by increasing the amount of such immune-system components as natural killer cells, macrophages, interferon, and antibodies. One study showed that people who ate active culture yogurt on a regular basis saw their nasal allergy symptoms decrease when compared with people who ate heat-treated yogurt.

Yogurt has been a health food for at least 4.000 years, and is a delicious way of getting the probiotic bacteria you need for a heartburn relief

Article Source: EzineArticles.com