Greek Yogurt, Worth the Hype or Just Another Trend?

I was recently touring the food service operations at a hospital and could not help but notice that there was Greek yogurt on the menu instead of the normal bland strawberry, vanilla combinations.  I thought to myself, why is this? Normally hospital food service does not follow trends in the market place, especially in Canada where the focus is on nutritional value and keeping the cost as low as possible.  That being said from what I have heard, Greek Yogurt is more expensive and has a higher fat content, so is there more to Greek yogurt than just the trend? What are the health benefits to this new fad?

As it turns out, Greek Yogurt absolutely has some great benefits that may explain why it is a first choice for hospital food service. How do they do it?  The Greek culture developed a way to strain the yogurt extensively to get rid of excess liquid, in turn this takes a lot of the extra whey, lactose and sugar content out of the yogurt, leaving you with a creamier, less sweet, less lactose option.  Not to mention because Greek yogurt has more density, it makes sense that it would have double the protein in the same size serving (this is true for most brands but it is always good to check the nutrition label before buying it) This makes it a great choice for vegetarians and people that are trying to add protein to their daily meal regime.

Overall, this looks like a great product that can incorporate a true market place trend to help patients identify with the food they are being served and has increased health benefits for those that are in the hospital and need the extra nutrition.