It can be slightly confusing to decide what the best yoghurt is to choose from for your child when the options vary so widely. Yoghurt is a nutritious food to incorporate into your kids diet as it has so many health benefits.
Yoghurt is a good choice of food to offer to your children from the beginning of early weaning because of its smooth and creamy texture. It’s also extremely versatile and can be included in so many dishes that you can feed your little ones. It’s a perfect choice to incorporate into breakfast, lunch and dinner because of its diverse uses in sweet and savoury dishes.
Yoghurt is high in protein which is essential for muscle growth and repair, and calcium which is an important mineral to assist with maintaining healthy teeth and bones. It’s high in other important vitamins and minerals such as B vitamins, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and importantly iodine; all of which are responsible for many biological processes in the body including maintaining blood pressure, metabolism and bone health. Some also contain live cultures which are beneficial for our gut bacteria.
Which Yoghurt is Best?
There are some things to consider when choosing a yoghurt suitable for your kids. Many yoghurts marketed towards kids have fun and colourful infographics, and whilst these can look enticing, they often contain a lot of added sugar.
Instead, when choosing a yoghurt, aim for full fat, plain, greek or natural yoghurt. Choosing full fat yoghurt is a good choice for your children because they need the calories and fat to help support growth. Additionally, choosing greek or natural yoghurt is important because these don’t contain any added sugars.
You can spot if yoghurt has added sugars because it will contain more than 5g sugar per 100g, so anything that has 5g or less is ideal.
Tip: If your kids prefer it with a bit of sweetness, you can add in fruit and berries or nut butters whilst also increasing the nutritional value of the whole snack or meal.
Here are some recommended yoghurts for your kids:
Natural
- Danone Plain Yoghurt
- Onken Set Natural Yoghurt
- The Collective Natural Kefir Yoghurt
Greek
- Fage Total 2% Fat Natural Low Fat Greek Yoghurt
- Fage Total 5% Fat Natural Greek Yoghurt
- Rachel’s Organic Set Greek Style Natural Yoghurt
Plant Based Yoghurts
If you’re looking for plant based yoghurt options there are loads available on the market, but oftentimes these miss out on the essential nutrients that are available in dairy based yoghurts. Offering your kids plant based yoghurts is absolutely fine, but you should consider what other food sources your kids are getting their energy and protein from, as well as the essential vitamins and minerals found in dairy yoghurt.
If you choose to feed your kids plant based alternatives, look out for fortified options such as:
-
Alpro Greek Style Plain
-
Alpro Plain No Sugars.
For more information on nutrition and looking after your family, see my ebooks or for more info around family nutrition, please contact me.
Contribution by Associate Nutritionist, Georgia Spence BSc ANutr
