Non-fat vs Full Fat Plain Greek Yogurt

Heather_71

I understand that full fat/whole milk plain Greek yogurt is more satiating. What I don’t understand is that I hear non-fat foods have sugars added to them for flavoring purposes. Granted, plain Greek yogurt isn’t very flavorful without added fruit, but are there added sugars? I don’t see the sugar difference in the ingredients / nutrition facts so feel a bit confused. It seems to me from a sugar standpoint, they are equal with no added sugars but the whole milk version has more fat. Is this right or am I missing something about the sugars?

Lietchi

Some low fat products can have extra sugars added for flavor, but personally I haven't seen that be true for Greek yogurt, or certainly not for the brands I've seen in my supermarket. Just check the ingredients like you're doing now 🙂

cmriverside

Plain Greek yogurt has just lactose, which is a sugar. They don't add sugar to plain Greek yogurt, just to flavored ones.

AnnPT77

Plain nonfat Greek yogurt typically doesn't have added sugar.

"All nonfat products have sugar added" is an inaccurate thing some people say, I think because they've read it somewhere in the blogosphere, but don't ever check it by reading actual nutritional labels.

Something that has some inherent sugar - like nonfat milk, for example -will have a bit more total sugar than the equivalent full-fat product. That's simply because when fat is removed from a food, there will be more of its other ingredients per volume, because of simple arithmetic. Something has to fill the space the removed fat left, and they don't add water to fill it.

Sinisterbarbie1

I actually also question only for myself whether full fat yogurt is more satiating or not. I suppose I believe it must be (intellectually I understand the concept), but while I can distinguish between the two side by side if asked to do so based on mouth feel, I generally eat fat free greek yogurt (fage, because I think it is the thickest with the best mouth feel) with blueberries in the morning and I am more than satisfied until lunch. When I have had low fat greek yogurt while traveling or if the store is out of my preferred0% fage and I buy the 2% I might enjoy the creaminess of the flavor a tiny bit more, but I don’t feel more full or full for longer. The protein and calorie differences are negligible. I suppose it would be different if I was moving from 0% to 5%, but then I might as well be having a bowl of ice cream for breakfast for the calorie hit. In which case the extra sugar worries from a reduced fat yogurt would be nothing to worry about!

gpanda103

Yeah from what I have seen most fat free food usually doesn’t have any added sugar either. Really the only time I see a product “compensate” with a different macro is with some keto products. They usually are replacing the calories from carbs with fat. Interesting how we have switched lol

sijomial

"What I don’t understand is that I hear non-fat foods have sugars added to them for flavoring purposes"

Beware sweeping statements!!
Doesn't actually make sense from the flavour perspective either in this case as fat doesn't taste sweet.
Test "what I hear" myths by reading the label of whichever brands/foods you eat to see what they actually contain.

Taking one component out of a food does of course change the proportions of the other components that remain behind. Some of which you might see as a positive thing, some you might see as negative, many will be of trivial importance....
How significant? Again - read the label.

azuki84

some guidelines in understanding total and added sugars. Educating yourself is one of the best ways to better health (I know some forum users here will argue against this). Do what WORKS FOR YOU, and if it doesn't work, look for another way!!!
https://www.fda.gov/food/new-nutrition-facts-label/added-sugars-new-nutrition-facts-label

cwolfman13

Heather_71 wrote: »

I understand that full fat/whole milk plain Greek yogurt is more satiating. What I don’t understand is that I hear non-fat foods have sugars added to them for flavoring purposes. Granted, plain Greek yogurt isn’t very flavorful without added fruit, but are there added sugars? I don’t see the sugar difference in the ingredients / nutrition facts so feel a bit confused. It seems to me from a sugar standpoint, they are equal with no added sugars but the whole milk version has more fat. Is this right or am I missing something about the sugars?

Not all non-fat or low fat foods have added sugar...in fact, I rarely see this, and when I do it's usually with salad dressing or something. Plain non-fat or low fat dairy products do not have added sugars. They do have more naturally occurring sugar in the form of lactose because the processing of non-fat or low fat dairy requires more of the actual dairy product to make the equivalent amount of the full fat product as the fat is skimmed away.

AnnPT77

Heather_71 wrote: »

I understand that full fat/whole milk plain Greek yogurt is more satiating. What I don’t understand is that I hear non-fat foods have sugars added to them for flavoring purposes. Granted, plain Greek yogurt isn’t very flavorful without added fruit, but are there added sugars? I don’t see the sugar difference in the ingredients / nutrition facts so feel a bit confused. It seems to me from a sugar standpoint, they are equal with no added sugars but the whole milk version has more fat. Is this right or am I missing something about the sugars?

I don't personally find full-fat more sating, either: Satiation tends to vary by person, and fat isn't very sating to me. I don't love the mouth-feel of full fat yogurt or milk, either, so I'm happier if I get my fats from things like nuts, seeds, avocados, cheese, that I enjoy eating more.

I think some of these "well known" things about foods are not universal to every single person, and some (like the "reduced fat = added sugar) are poorly founded in facts, as mentioned before.