Health expert Professor Spector has issued an urgent warning to the millions of people who regularly indulge in fat-free or low-fat yoghurt that it may not be that healthy at all
Many of us are concerned with trying to eat as healthy diet as possible, but it isn’t always as simple as we might hope. A leading health expert has issued and urgent warning that one incredibly popular product, which is marketed as being good for you, isn’t actually as healthy as the millions who consume it might hope.
Professor Tim Spector OBE is a medical doctor, genetics professor, and author, who specialises in nutrition and gut health, and he appeared on the ZOE Science and Nutrition podcast when he issued a warning about a seriously common and seemingly innocuous food product eaten by many people across the country – low-fat yoghurt.
The episode was released on October 1 and saw Professor Spector discuss with Dr Chris Van Tulleken the dangers that come along with low-fat yoghurt, as an ultra-processed food – as reported by Edinburgh Live. The host of the podcast, Jonathon Wolf, began the discussion by noting that this type of yoghurt, which is being marketed as a healthy option, often lists many ingredients on the packet, even though you would be forgiven for assuming that a plain yoghurt would “basically have milk in it” and not much else.
“And it’s right next to the one that only has milk in it and it’s impossible to tell. There’s nothing on the… you know until you actually go and look into the ingredients, they look the same,” the host added. Professor Spector explained, “It says low fat, you’re more likely to have fake yoghurt than if it’s full fat.”
Dr. Chris Van Tulleken noted, “That’s completely right and if you consider…one of the things, the illusions of our sort of food supply system, is that it exists to supply food to us and that isn’t the way it works. It exists to extract money from us and so low-fat yoghurt, the genius of low-fat yoghurt, is you can sell your yoghurt at a premium price because it doesn’t have fat in it.”
The expert went on to explain that many producers of low-fat yoghurt use things like maize starch that has been modified, or xanthan gum to replicate the taste and texture of full-fat yoghurt, but this means many more ingredients have been added into the product, making it an ultra-processed food (UPF) and “None of it’s done with an eye on our health,” continued the expert. Professor Tim Spector has previously warned about the dangers of UPFs, calling them a “future time bomb” and explaining they can have long-term impacts on your health.
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