By Yoon Ja-young
Yogurt is supposed to be good for your health, but some products contain too much sugar, a consumer report showed Tuesday.
The Korea Consumer Agency released a report on 14 premium yogurts containing at least 10 times more lactic acid and more milk compared with other yogurts.
However, some of them contained too much sugar. The amount of sugar ranged from 5.79 grams to 21.95 grams per 150 milliliter bottle.
(It didn’t specify the brand names.->삭제)
On average, these yogurts had 14.52 grams of sugar, which is equivalent to 29 percent of the daily recommended intake amount by the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO recommends that the daily intake of sugar should not exceed 50 grams.
“Koreans take 40 grams of sugar through processed food according to 2012 statistics, which is 80 percent of the daily recommended portion by the WHO. Though people drink fermented milk for their health, some of the products contain as much sugar as a cup of cola,” said a spokesman for the agency.
It explained that while fermented milk contains lactose, which is like a sugar, most of the yogurt manufacturers are adding white sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Natural milk contains about 5 grams of lactose per 100 milliliters, which is decomposed into galactose and glucose in the intestines.
“It has become a global issue to lower sugar intakes. The yogurt manufacturers as well as consumers and the government should make efforts to decrease sugar in yogurts,” the spokesman said.
Calories, meanwhile, varied between 75.3 kilocalories and 162.5 kilocalories per 150 milliliter bottle.
The agency said that all of the premium yogurts in the report contained enough lactic acid bacteria ― at least 10 times more than the ordinary yogurts.