Study suggests breakfast staple may contribute to slower ageing

Plain yogurt – which is often paired with granola, fruit or organic maple syrup as a breakfast meal – might help to slow ageing to some extent.

That’s according to a study in Japan that was published in the Aging journal. It found that biological ageing in a group of older men who ate 100g of plain yogurt every day slowed by 2.2%.

The 12-week trial involved 40 overweight Japanese men aged between 50 to 74. Half of the group was given the daily serving of yogurt, as well as guidance on exercise and nutrition. The other half continued with their normal habits.

While the researchers accepted that, given the other possible differences in nutrition and exercise between the two groups, an anti-ageing effect cannot solely be attributed to the yogurt, it may demonstrate the combined effect.

The study noted:

“Taken together, these observations suggest that modest adjustments in diet and physical activity, combined with a realistic and easily adoptable habit of daily BB536-containing yogurt consumption, may constitute a feasible lifestyle strategy for inducing short-term changes in biomarkers related to the pace of biological aging.”

As well as being used as a topping for yogurt, maple syrup is also combined with the dairy product as an ingredient in several recipes. These include maple pecan muffins, Greek yogurt parfait – which uses syrup mixed berries, granola and chia seeds – and ‘baked yogurt’, in which yogurt is whisked together with maple syrup, eggs, vanilla and corn starch before being placed in the oven.