Dairy or Yoghurt Dessert

Food · Dairy · Food, Typed Supps

Somewhere between a yoghurt and a pudding: the calcium is real, and so is the added sugar.

Stage by stage

Intake (Little chewing needed): Semi-solid texture means minimal oral processing and fast transit, which lowers satiety per kilojoule.
Stomach (Casein clots, fat slows emptying): Milk protein clots in acid and releases slowly; the 4.5g of fat slows emptying a little, while the sugar needs no work.
Small intestine (Calcium absorbed): About 30 percent of the calcium is absorbed, helped by casein phosphopeptides and lactose.
Skeleton (Calcium deposited in bone): Absorbed calcium is directed to bone under parathyroid and vitamin D control.

Time to effect

Under an hour: Blood glucose rises within 30 to 60 minutes; any bone benefit comes only from consistent dairy intake over years.

Allergens

Contains: Milk. May contain: Gluten, Eggs, Soya, Tree nuts. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher. Depends on the product: Gluten-free.

Satiety

129 on the satiety index, where white bread is 100 — moderate. Modelled from the Holt et al. (1995) measurements.

Environmental footprint

3.2 kg CO2e and 628 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Milk" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.

Cost band

Cheap — roughly £2.5 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Calcium
Added sugar
Saturated fat
Iodine

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 113
Protein: 2.6g
Carbohydrate: 14.6g
of which sugars: 11.6g
Fat: 4.5g
of which saturated: 3.1g
Fibre: 1.4g
Sodium: 34mg

Food vs. supplement

Calcium here absorbs about as well as a supplement taken with food, and comes with protein, iodine and riboflavin the supplement lacks. It also comes with 8.6g of added sugar per 100g, which is the trade the supplement does not ask you to make.

Kitchen tip

Compare the pot against plain yoghurt on the same shelf: calcium is usually similar and added sugar is not. Stirring fruit into plain yoghurt gets the same eating experience with several grams less added sugar.

Common myth

"It says yoghurt, so it has live cultures and counts as a probiotic." In reality: Many chilled dairy desserts are pasteurised after culturing, which kills the bacteria, and some are thickened with starch or gelatine without real fermentation. Where live cultures are present, manufacturers say so explicitly on the label.