Yogurt
Yogurt is made by curdling milk with purified bacteria cultures that cause the milk sugar, or lactose, to turn into lactic acid. The result is a high-calcium, high-protein dairy food. From early on in its history, yogurt has been linked with longevity and has even been used for medicinal purposes.
The exact origin of yogurt is uncertain, but legend has it that the Biblical patriarch Abraham offered yogurt to the angels when they told him of the birth of his son Isaac. Over the years, yogurt has been credited as the reason for the longevity of Abraham, who lived to the advanced age of 175, and some Biblical scholars believe that yogurt is the milk of the phrase "milk and honey."
In the early 1500s, a Turkish doctor was credited with saving the life of the French monarch François I (1494-1547) by prescribing a diet of yogurt for the king. From that point on, yogurt was dubbed le lait de la vie eternelle, or the milk of eternal life, by the French.
In the early 1900s, the Russian bacteriologist Elie Metchnikoff (1845-1916), went to observe a group of Bulgarian peasants who were said to be thriving and even bearing children past the age of one hundred. Metchnikoff noted that the men and women would frequently pause from their work and eat large bowls of yogurt mixed with onions, nuts, and vegetables. Metchnikoff was convinced that yogurt was responsible for their incredible strength and longevity and began to study the food. He isolated the two strains of bacteria that were present in yogurt: Streptococcus thermophilus and lactobacillus bulgaricus, named for the country in which Metchnikoff discovered it. Metchnikoff discovered that these bacteria are rich in B vitamins and are able to combat a common intestinal virus, which he believed produced toxins that hasten the aging process. In addition to killing this intestinal virus, yogurt is easily digested and aids in the digestion of other foods.
In 1929, a Parisian, Isaac Carasso, began selling yogurt commercially, naming his product Dannone after his son Daniel. By the 1950s, Carasso had the largest yogurt-producing factory in the world. Carasso introduced his product as Dannon in the United States, and by the mid-1960s, yogurt had established itself in America's burgeoning "health food" market.
No longer a specialized product found only in health food stores, yogurt is now a staple item on supermarket shelves and is available in a wide range of flavors. Like milk, it comes in whole, low-fat, and non-fat varieties. In the 1980s, frozen yogurt stores, offering a healthy alternative to ice cream, were among the fastest growing franchises in America.
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