What is in Yogurt?

What is in Yogurt? Potassium Sorbate maybe??

Milk and dairy products are a good source of protein, carbohydrates and fat. Proteins and fat are required for our bodies to survive. Excess fats (fatty acids) and proteins can be converted into carbohydrates to provide us with energy. The body requires fatty acids to build brain and nerve cells and without fat our brain function suffers. We also need protein in order to feed the protein in our body. Our proteins are made up of amino acids. There are a total of 20 amino acids, 12 of which our body can produce but 8 that we need from other sources in our diets. Those amino acids are called the “essential amino acids” because we need them. They are essential so we may live and thrive.

Yogurt can be a good source of protein and fat to help us be healthy. But not all yogurt is healthy. The processing and preserving of it make it less than healthy. Many manufacturers add preservatives such as potassium sorbate to preserve freshness and increase the shelf life. Studies have shown it to be safe in some rats but it has also been shown to be unsafe in others but the FDA has allowed it to be our food supply and it is not a banned substance. So is it safe?

A recent study has shown that potassium sorbate is both genotoxic and mutagenic for lymphocytes in human bodies. Lymphocytes are good cells and help to protect us from infections; so we need them to be good and healthy. Genotoxic and mutagenic means good healthy cells can be damaged enough to cause them to convert into bad cells or cancer cells (Leukemia is blood cell cancer). In other words, potassium sorbate does bad things to our white blood cells (lymphocytes), and can potentially cause cancers like Leukemia.

Action Item: Read labels! Yogurt is good for you as part of a healthy diet. Potassium sorbate is a preservative you want to avoid. If enough of us say no to “potassium sorbate” maybe they will quit adding it. Also, look in cheeses, syrup and dried fruit for this same nasty preservative.

For more information on the study showing toxicity of Potassium Sorbate see PubMed:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20036729