TABLE 3.

Summary of RCTs comparing the impacts of eating yogurt or cheese on biomarkers of inflammation¹

Study and reference	Type of study	Participants	Inflammatory markers assessed	Intervention	Results
Pei et al. (76)	RCT	n = 120 premenopausal females (60 with obesity and 60 without obesity)	IL-6, TNF-α, soluble TNF II (sTNF-RII), hs-CRP, LBP:sCD14	Participants consumed 339 g of yogurt or 324 g of soy pudding daily for 9 wk.	Eating low-fat yogurt over a 9-wk period modestly reduced fasting biomarkers of chronic inflammation and low-grade endotoxemia in women relative to those consuming the nondairy control food.
Pei et al. (34)	RCT	n = 120 premenopausal females (60 with obesity and 60 without obesity)	IL-6, TNF-α, LBP:sCD14	Participants consumed either 226 g of a commercial low-fat yogurt or a nondairy soy pudding control snack (n = 30 participants/group) with similar macronutrient content immediately prior to consuming a high-fat, high-calorie challenge meal.	Premeal yogurt consumption modestly reduced acute postprandial inflammation induced by the high-fat, high-calorie challenge meal.
Burton et al. (54)	Randomized, double-blind crossover trial	n = 14 healthy males of normal weight	TNF-α, IL-6	Participants consumed either yogurt supplemented with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG or acidified milk. Each trial phase included a 4-wk run-in period, during which participants consumed 400 mL per day of whole milk, followed by a 2-wk intervention phase during which participants consumed 400 g/d of yogurt or acidified milk and underwent 2 postprandial tests. The first day of each intervention, the postprandial response of participants to 800 g of their assigned intervention foods was assessed. At the end of the intervention period, participants consumed 400 g of the intervention food prior to a high-fat challenge meal.	Both probiotic yogurt and acidified milk reduced postprandial inflammatory markers linked to high-fat meals
Schmid et al. (58)	Randomized crossover trial	n = 19 healthy males (age: 41.8 ± 9.0 y) with BMI of 27.8 ± 8.2 kg/m2	CRP, IL-6, TNF-α	Participants randomized to consume: a high-fat dairy meal, high-fat nondairy meal eaten with milk, and a high-fat nondairy control meal.	Dairy fat, largely from cheese, did not impact measures of postprandial inflammation relative to other nondairy mixed meals.
Brassard et al. (55)	RCT	n = 92 males and females with abdominal obesity defined as waist circumference ≥94 cm for men or ≥80 cm for women	hs-CRP	Participants consumed 1 of 5 diets for 4 wk each with 4-wk washouts in between: a diet rich in saturated fat from cheese, a diet rich in saturated fat from butter, a diet rich in MUFAs, a diet rich in PUFAs, or a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet.	Concentrations of hs-CRP were not different between interventions. The intake of cheese relative to other fat sources, and even compared to a low-fat diet, did not impact hs-CRP.

¹CRP, C-reactive protein; hs-CRP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; LBP, LPS binding protein; RCT, randomized controlled trial.