Yogurt might be linked to a lower mortality risk due to its influence on the health of your gut microbiome, according to a 2020 article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The good bacteria in yogurt can support your immune system while warding off pathogens that can cause infections. 

A 2021 article in Nutrients found that people who ate more yogurt had lower levels of inflammation in their bodies compared to people who didn’t eat yogurt. The researchers didn’t find these same effects with milk or cheese, which shows that the probiotics in yogurt might be driving the anti-inflammatory power.

Even in the short term, yogurt can reduce inflammation and produce positive changes in your gut bacteria. In a 2017 article in the British Journal of Nutrition, 14 men ate 400 grams of yogurt (or acidified milk) for two weeks. The yogurt reduced the inflammatory response after eating a high-fat meal. Yogurt also reduced a strain of bacteria that’s sometimes linked with inflammation.