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Food · Animal Foods · Dairy
food source · 2
Yogurt has about as much calcium as milk, and it is absorbed about as well, because fermentation mainly changes the lactose and leaves the casein. When Greek yogurt is strained, some of the calcium leaves with the whey.
Mechanism · Fermentation leaves the casein alone
During fermentation, lactic acid bacteria eat part of the lactose but leave the casein largely untouched, so the phosphopeptides cut from it during digestion are still there, and yogurt's calcium is absorbed about as well as milk's. Greek yogurt is concentrated by draining off the whey, and some of the minerals dissolved in the whey drain away with it, so it holds somewhat less calcium.
Numbers · Calcium in regular and Greek yogurt
Plain yogurt has about 120 mg of calcium per 100 g and Greek yogurt about 85–110 mg, so both are still good sources; getting vitamin D at the same time helps calcium absorption. Yogurt is not a good source of vitamin K2: its two usual cultures make far less K2 than the lactic acid bacteria in cheese, and MK-7 comes almost only from natto.
Greek yogurt is yogurt with the whey drained off, so it has roughly twice the protein by weight: about 8–10 g per 100 g, against about 3.5–4 g in regular plain yogurt.
Mechanism · Strained, not a different culture
Greek yogurt does not use a different culture; the whey is drained off. With the water gone, the protein becomes denser, and part of the lactose leaves with the whey. Its protein is still casein plus whey, one digested slowly and the other quickly.
Numbers · Protein in three kinds of yogurt
Per 100 g, regular whole-milk plain yogurt has about 3.5–4 g of protein and whole-milk Greek yogurt about 8–10 g. Non-fat Greek yogurt still has about 8–10 g of protein with almost no fat, an efficient choice when you want more protein and less fat. The carbohydrate in plain yogurt is lactose; the extra carbohydrate in a flavored cup is mostly added sugar.