Want A Healthy Usus? Study Calls The Combination Of Yogurt With Honey Can Be The Best Way

Illustration (Jenna Hamran/Pexels)

JAKARTA - Starting the day with a bowl of yogurt is an easy way to improve the health of the intestines. This fermented dairy product contains probiotics that help balance the ratio of good and bad bacteria in gut microbiomes, improve overall digestion and health. Although the benefits of yogurt for the intestines are impressive. But new research from the University of Illinois, reported by the Eat This page, Monday, August 26, shows that adding one topping, such as honey, can improve its effect better.

However, the biggest challenge with probiotics in yogurt is that these bacteria do not always survive the journey from mouth to intestinal microbiome. According to researchers, this is largely due to enzymes in the mouth, stomach and intestines. These enzymes are important for digesting and absorbing nutrients, but they can also reduce the amount of probiotics that enter the intestine. However, after conducting three studies, researchers found that adding a little honey can help support the survival of these probiotics.

In the first study, conducted in vitro to simulate oral digestion, stomach and intestines, researchers confirmed their hypothesis that semanggi honey can increase probiotic survival during digestion. The research of the proof of this concept is an important first step, but not on humans.

Based on these findings, the researchers conducted a separate second study to see if this effect applies to humans. They tested 66 healthy adults who consumed yogurt with honey semanggi and yogurt without honey. The results show that the combination of honey and yogurt does increase the probiotic survival rate compared to yogurt alone.

A small follow-up study was conducted, where participants consumed yogurt with plain sugar. Even in this study, honey was found to have the biggest impact in supporting probiotic survival.

In conclusion, at the beginning of a little honey can be an alternative either for regular sugar or other sweeteners that you can add to yogurt. Honey is not only better for the intestines than sugar, but also contains a lot of strong antioxidants. Plus, research has found that honey is better for blood sugar content than regular sugar.

However, it is important to remember that honey is still considered an additional form of sugar. Consuming too much additional sugar can increase the risk of heart disease, weight gain, and type 2 diabetes. However, a little honey mixed with yogurt should be safe for most people.

Apart from honey, you can also add nuts or peanut butter to get healthy fat and protein or favorite fruit in order to get fiber and antioxidants. Whatever combination you choose, shower the health benefits of the intestines you get from honey.