You may reach for the low-fat or nonfat yogurt thinking it's healthy, but it could actually be packed with sugar.
The US Food and Drug Administration recommends that Americans eat only about 50 grams of sugar total per day, and the most recent dietary guidelines suggest adults get no more than 10% of their daily calories from added sugars.
Yet one serving of low-fat yogurt can contain as many as 30 grams of sugar — that's 60% of your daily USDA limit.
The reason low-fat yogurts often have so much sugar is simple: They don't have as much fat. So companies add in sugars (whether they're named on the ingredients list as cane sugar, corn syrup, or fructose) to make the yogurt taste better.
Full-fat yogurts tend to have less sugar because they don't need it — they already taste great. Milk is naturally sweet, after all, so you shouldn't have to add sugar to it. Even if you decide to add something like a little honey, you'll be stirring in much less than the added sugars that are found in so many low-fat yogurts.
If you worry that that fat is bad for you, don't. While no one should go against the health advice of their doctor, the kind of fat in yogurt is not trans fat, which can increase your risk of heart disease and diabetes. And in general, recent research has shown that the low-fat craze was misguided.
Studies have found that high-fat diets low in carbs and high in protein can actually lower heart disease risk and decrease blood pressure. Too much sugar, meanwhile, is associated with a long list of health problems.
So the next time you want to eat that low-fat yogurt to be "healthy," check the label. How much sugar are you getting along with it?
