Check the Label to Choose a Healthy Yogurt
You can't assume all yogurt is good for you. Watch out for these nutritional landmines.
Selecting a healthy yogurt isn’t as easy as it should be, so you have to do a little label reading. Here’s what to check for.
Added Sugars
For many people, added sugars can make yogurt taste less tart. “I’d rather see people eat a little more sugar and eat yogurt than say, ‘Yuck, I don’t like it, it’s too sour,’” says Mark Haub, PhD, a professor of food and health sciences at Kansas State University in Manhattan.
Still, some flavored yogurts have a lot of added sugars. For example, Silk Almondmilk, Strawberry, has 12 grams (3 teaspoons) in a serving. La Yogurt Sabor Latino Low Fat Blended, Strawberry, has 18 grams (4.5 teaspoons)—and some of this brand’s other flavors have more than that. The American Heart Association recommends that women get no more than 25 grams (6 teaspoons) of added sugars and men no more than 36 grams (9 teaspoons) in an entire day.
CR suggests choosing a yogurt with no more than 8 grams of added sugars per serving. That’s easy to do: Half of the yogurts that got excellent taste scores in our ratings had even less than that.
Editor’s Note: This article also appeared in the September 2024 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
