Which yoghurt should I buy? A guide to Greek, natural, Skyr, fat and protein

When did buying a pot of yoghurt become so complicated? Natural, Greek, Greek-style, Skyr, high protein, live cultures...the choices are endless.

Yoghurt can be a really nutritious addition to your diet. It is a nutrient-dense food, providing protein and calcium alongside vitamin B12, iodine, phosphorus and riboflavin. Depending on the product, it can also be a source of live bacterial cultures.

So, how do you know which one to choose?

START WITH THE INGREDIENTS

Before getting distracted by any claims on the front of the pot, turn it around and look at the ingredients.

For an unflavoured yoghurt, you really don't need much more than milk and live bacterial cultures. Whether you choose natural yoghurt, Greek yoghurt or Skyr, keeping it plain is generally the simplest option.

Some yoghurts contain additional ingredients for perfectly legitimate reasons, but a long list of added sugars, syrups, flavourings and other extras is a clue that you're moving away from a simple yoghurt.

Flavoured and fruit yoghurts can be particularly deceptive. Something that looks like a healthy breakfast can contain a surprising amount of added sugar. And don't assume low fat automatically means healthier. Some low fat flavoured yoghurts contain added sugars, sweeteners or thickeners, so it pays to check what’s actually in the pot.

My general rule? Buy plain yoghurt and add your own fruit. You get the sweetness, along with the fibre and polyphenols in the fruit, and you control how sweet you want it.

NATURAL, GREEK, GREEK-STYLE OR SKYR?

This is where the terminology can get confusing. “Plain” simply means unflavoured, so you can buy plain natural yoghurt, plain Greek yoghurt or plain Skyr.

Natural yoghurt is the traditional, unstrained version. Milk is fermented with bacterial cultures, giving yoghurt its characteristic tang and texture.

Greek yoghurt is traditionally strained to remove some of the liquid whey. This gives it its characteristic thick texture and can concentrate the protein, although protein content varies considerably between brands.

Greek-style yoghurt is made to resemble the thick, creamy consistency of Greek yoghurt but may be produced differently. Again, check the protein content rather than relying on the name.

Skyr is slightly different again. Despite sitting alongside yoghurt in the supermarket, it's technically a type of cultured fresh cheese. Nutritionally, though, it has a similar profile to a thick, high-protein yoghurt and can be a useful option if increasing protein is your priority.

HOW MUCH PROTEIN SHOULD YOU LOOK FOR?

The important point is that the name on the front doesn't tell you everything. Turn the pot around and check the protein per 100g. This is one of the biggest differences between yoghurts.

A standard natural yoghurt might provide around 4 to 5g protein per 100g, while some strained Greek yoghurts and Skyr can provide roughly twice that amount.

That can make a meaningful difference at breakfast. If you eat 200g, for example, one yoghurt might give you around 8g of protein while another could provide closer to 20g.

Protein becomes particularly important as we get older because maintaining muscle mass gets harder with age. Having a decent source of protein at each meal is one of the simplest ways to support muscle maintenance, satiety and healthy ageing.

So if yoghurt forms the basis of your breakfast rather than being a small addition, protein content is worth paying attention to.

WHAT ABOUT 0%, 2%, 5% OR 10% FAT?

The percentage simply tells you approximately how much fat the yoghurt contains. For example, a 5% yoghurt contains around 5g of fat per 100g.

For years, we've been encouraged to automatically reach for low-fat dairy because dairy fat contains a relatively high proportion of saturated fat. We now know the relationship between dairy foods and cardiovascular health is more nuanced than simply looking at their saturated fat content in isolation.

That doesn't mean saturated fat no longer matters. UK guidance recommends that the average woman consumes no more than around 20g of saturated fat a day (30g for men), so it's still worth considering yoghurt in the context of your overall diet. A very high-fat yoghurt can make a significant contribution to this. But it also doesn't mean you need to fear a pot of full-fat yoghurt.

A higher-fat yoghurt may be creamier and more satisfying, while a 0% Greek yoghurt can give you plenty of protein for fewer calories. Neither is automatically the "healthy" choice.

The best option depends on the rest of your diet, your appetite and your goals.

If you're trying to increase protein while keeping calories lower, a 0% or lower-fat Greek yoghurt might make sense. If you prefer the taste and find a higher-fat yoghurt more satisfying, that can also fit perfectly well within a healthy diet.

Context matters more than the number on the pot.

DOES YOGHURT CONTAIN SUGAR?

Yes, even completely plain yoghurt will show sugar on the nutrition label. If the ingredients are essentially milk and cultures, the sugar you're seeing will predominantly be naturally occurring milk sugar known as lactose.

Lactose does raise blood glucose, but when eaten as part of yoghurt, the overall glycaemic impact is generally relatively low, particularly compared with many refined carbohydrate foods. Protein and, depending on the type, fat can also influence the overall blood sugar response.

Fermentation breaks down some of the lactose too, which is one reason some people find yoghurt easier to tolerate than milk.

With flavoured yoghurts, however, sugar may also have been added. That's another reason I tend to favour plain yoghurt and add fruit myself.

WHAT ABOUT LIVE BACTERIA?

Yoghurt is produced through fermentation, using bacterial cultures to convert some of the lactose in milk into lactic acid.

Some yoghurts contain live cultures when you eat them, but don't assume every product marketed as yoghurt will provide the same bacteria or the same amount. If this is important to you, look for wording such as "live cultures" on the label and check which cultures are listed.

And remember that yoghurt doesn't need an enormous list of fashionable bacterial strains to be a worthwhile food. Fermented dairy can simply be one part of a varied diet containing plenty of different plant foods to support the gut microbiome.

SHOULD YOU MAKE YOUR OWN?

I recently went down the homemade yoghurt rabbit hole and it's surprisingly easy. I used the VonChef yoghurt maker which was around £20, added milk and live yoghurt and left it for 10 hours – long enough for the bacteria to ferment the milk. That was it. I strained mine for a thicker, Greek-style consistency and saved the whey to use in cooking.

I found this process very satisfying. You know exactly what’s gone into it and you can choose the thickness depending on how long you strain it for. Compared to a premium Greek yoghurt, such as FAGE, the saving was significant. My homemade batch cost around 20p per 100g compared with around 83p for FAGE 5%, before factoring in the small electricity cost.

Just be warned: once you start making yoghurt, you may find yourself discussing yoghurt far more than any reasonable person should.

SO, WHICH YOGHURT SHOULD YOU BUY?

Don't overcomplicate it.

When I'm choosing yoghurt, these are the things I'd look at first:

1. Ingredients

For plain yoghurt, ideally keep it simple: milk and live cultures.

2. Protein

Compare products per 100g. If yoghurt is a substantial part of your breakfast, a higher-protein option can be particularly useful.

3. Added sugar

Don't confuse naturally occurring lactose with added sugar. Check the ingredients, particularly with flavoured varieties.

4. Fat

You don't automatically need to choose 0%. Pick the level that works for your overall diet, energy needs, appetite and preferences.

5. Live cultures

If you're choosing yoghurt partly for its fermented-food benefits, check that the product actually contains live cultures.

The yoghurt aisle doesn’t need to be complicated. Keep it plain, check the ingredients and protein, choose the fat level that works for you, then add your own fruit, nuts and seeds. Simple.