Is yogurt good for constipation? – Overview
Constipation is defined by the medical community as a decrease in bowel movements or difficulty passing stools. Constipation is a frequent complaint that affects 42 million Americans.
Certain foods, such as yogurt, can assist in increasing the frequency of bowel motions. This article highlights the advantages of yogurt in stimulating bowel movements and avoiding constipation due to probiotics.
What causes constipation?
- Dehydration
- Lack of dietary fiber
- Prescription drugs, specifically narcotics, antidepressants and antibiotics
Let’s make your stool pass easily with the help of yogurt and check if yogurt is good for constipation.
Bacteria in Yogurt Relieves Constipation
Food and physical exercise are our first choices for relieving constipation, and yogurt is one of those foods. Yogurt has an advantage over other milk products in that it is a probiotic food, which means that it feeds the beneficial bacteria in your stomach.
Furthermore, low-fat probiotic yogurt includes an extra dosage of beneficial bacteria. In addition, Lactobacillus GG (LGG) yogurt has been found to alleviate gastrointestinal symptoms such as constipation.
What does the research say about yogurt and constipation?
Is yogurt good for constipation – research
Researchers looked at the efficacy of an unflavored probiotic yogurt containing polydextrose, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Bifidobacterium lactis to treat constipation in a 2014 study.
The researchers discovered that consuming 180 milliliters of this yogurt every morning for two weeks reduced the amount of time waste took to transit through the intestines in patients with chronic constipation.
In fact, according to a 2014 meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, probiotics increased the frequency of bowel movements by 1.3 per week and improved consistency, making it more comfortable to go.
- Probiotic yogurt is beneficial to both the elderly and children, who are frequent sufferers of constipation. Research revealed that eating yogurt with prunes and linseed regularly decreased the severity of constipation in the elderly.
- Probiotic yogurt also contains galactooligosaccharides, a nondigestible fiber that promotes the growth of healthy gut flora, and can remove the root cause of constipation if consumed regularly.
- When buying probiotic yogurt, check for the label that says probiotic or “live and active cultures.” According to the United States Department of Agriculture, everyone over the age of nine should consume 3 cups of yogurt to reap the probiotic advantages. If you think 3 cups is too much, cut back and supplement your diet with other sources of probiotics.
- In a study of 59 constipated kids, those who got probiotic yogurt had more frequent bowel movements, less pain when pooping, and less stomach pain than those who just drank yogurt.
- Probiotics assist your intestines, whether you have diarrhea or constipation, because they reset your gut flora. We all have a billion bacteria in our bodies, and if the appropriate ones aren’t operating properly, it can cause indigestion, bloating, and changes in our intestines. Therefore, Probiotics add more of the healthy bacteria to your gut and reconstitute your digestive tract with those good bacteria.
- However, yogurt is not the only meal that might help you avoid constipation. Consume plenty of fiber, fruits and other probiotics, plenty of water, and don’t resist the need to move your bowels.
- Even though all dairy products have low fiber content, they do not induce constipation. Constipation can also be caused by a variety of different factors. For a person suffering from constipation, passing feces from the body is extremely uncomfortable.
- Food typically contains two forms of fiber: soluble and insoluble fiber. While soluble fiber softens your feces, insoluble fiber adds weight to waste, allowing it to move through the colon more quickly. This addresses the two issues associated with constipation: hard stool and trouble passing it. This is why a low-fiber diet is frequently blamed for constipation.
Is yogurt good for constipation or does it make you constipated?
- In patients with chronic constipation, however, a high diet of dairy products such as yogurt has been shown to exacerbate constipation. This might be because milk includes a protein called casein, which is frequently poorly digested. Furthermore, dairy products are low in fiber, and consuming a lot of them implies you’re not getting enough fiber from other sources.
- So, can yogurt induce constipation as well? Unless you eat too much and lose out on fiber and other nutrients, it’s unlikely. Consuming dairy products in moderation while not lowering fiber intake can help relieve constipation in otherwise healthy individuals.
Note!
Yogurt also increases your body’s metabolism, which aids digestion. As we all know, one of the primary causes of constipation is poor body metabolism.
Conclusion
Because yogurt is a well-known probiotic food, it has an advantage over all other milk products for constipation.
Yogurt feeds and nourishes the beneficial bacteria found in the gut, which aids with digestion. Probiotics, often known as “good” bacteria, may assist in enhancing your digestive tract and softening feces.
See Also
Is Cucumber Good for Constipation?
References
