Frozen Yogurt vs Regular Yogurt (Nutritional Value)

Do frozen yogurt and regular yogurt have the same nutritional value?

For years, yogurt has been touted as a health food. It is an excellent source of protein and calcium, not to mention the fact that it contains probiotics; these are good/friendly bacteria that are found in your stomach. They help in digestion.

Frozen yogurt is a sweet treat made of milk, sugar, flavoring and yogurt cultures. Most of the sugar and flavorings in frozen yogurt are artificial, but it is possible to find completely natural frozen yogurt. The fact that it is lower in fat, compared to ice cream, but has an almost similar texture has made this treat very popular, especially with the new low-fat diet trend.

Frozen yogurt has high sugar content, but is low in fat, so it does contain lots of calories, but not as much as ice cream. The cream, in ice cream, is a source of fat, whereas yogurt is not made of cream, but milk. The probiotics found in regular yogurt will die if exposed to freezing temperatures, or heat. When buying yogurt, check to see if one of the ingredients is “live cultures” if this is present, it may be possible that your treat still contains some good bacteria. 

Nutritional information of Frozen vs. Regular Yogurt

The nutrition information for yogurt varies a bit based on fat content and flavorings.

• One-half cup of plain yogurt made with whole milk has approximately 75 calories, 4 grams protein, 6 grams fat (2.6 gram of which are the saturated kind) and just under 6 grams carbohydrates, mostly in the form of milk sugar or lactose. It also has 148 milligrams calcium, and 15 milligrams magnesium.
• One-half cup flavored frozen yogurt has 110 calories, 2.6 grams protein, 3 grams fat (2 of those grams are saturated fat), 19 grams carbohydrates (much of which come from added sugar), 87 grams calcium and 9 grams magnesium. 

So, frozen yogurt has more calories from sugar and less calcium and magnesium than the same amount of plain yogurt.

As you can see, regular yogurt is of more nutritional value than frozen yogurt, and it also contains less calories. The additional calories in frozen yogurt are due to the flavorings and sweeteners added to the frozen treat.

If you do not like the plain taste of regular yogurt, you can add honey as a sweetener, or a handful of berries, or fruits, which will add to the vitamin and fiber content of yogurt, as well as phytochemicals.