yogurt/phytates-food

Question
I had two questions.  I was comparing some different plain non-fat yogurts in the supermarket and noticed they vary in natural surgar content.  It seems like the less calcium and protein they have the more sugar it has.  For an 8 cup serving, one had 35% calcium, 10g sugar, 10g protein.  One had 40% calcium and 15g sugar.  One had 50% calcium, 20g sugar, 14g protein.  Why does sugar content vary?  Does it matter much how much sugar a plain yogurt has?  Does this make it better?

The second question relates to all this talk about trying to avoid phytic acid (phytates) in food (e.g. grains, beans, nuts) because it supposedly blocks mineral absorption, things like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, zinc.  By avoiding phytic acid foods, I've seen everything from curing tooth decay to curing all sorts of other diseases in the body.  I thought it was just the opposite for phytic acid, where it prevents diseases and a host of other things in the body.  I thought these were really good foods to try and eat every day, and this should make up the bulk of your diet.  Is this something to worry about?  Are important minerals not being absorbed?  How much scientific proof is there to this?  I try to take my vitamins every morning with breakfast since it was always told to do this for best absorption.  Now I'm thinking twice about this.  I like my bowl of oatmeal every morning, but am now worried vitamins/minerals are not being absorbed.  Is hard to really know what's truth and not truth out there on the internet, since things many times seem so valid.  Thanks.

Answer
Dave

The question your asking I cannot answer because honestly the jury is still out on the subject. There are no conclusive studies that I have read on this topic nor is there any evidence that cannot be debated either way.  As for the first part of you question I have seen the difference in the sugar and carb contents as you said but usually between different types of yogurt such as organic, so called natural,regular or conventional and the different Greek yogurts. The difference in these contents would be because of the ingredients used in the varying types and not really because of decreased  calcium even though many of the companies add calcium or sugars to make their products slightly different from other products. If we are strictly talking about plain yogurt I have seen that the majority of them are basically the same, but may be slightly different because of their specific company recipe. I have not seen any direct correlation for decreased  calcium causing more sugar. I am sorry I could not help you further but I could only give you the facts as I know them. I will do some further research and if I find something related I will write you back.


Thanks for writing

Larry

1. Prev:Nutrition in a pill
2. Next:lactose/vitamins