In this LAB note
Question · Hypothesis · Method · Results · What Failed · What We Learned · What Changed at MOMS
Question
Greek yogurt appears in 55 of our 201 shakes. Is it an ingredient choice, or a switch that the body type turns on, and can its effect on the label be measured at all?
Hypothesis
We expected yogurt to be spread across body types the way chickpeas and tofu are, with some recipes using it and some not. We also expected that, as the heaviest single protein-slot item (about 185 g on average where it appears), it would show up on the label as a modest rise in carbohydrate and no drop in protein.
Method
Published research: Ortinau and colleagues (Nutrition Journal, 2014) compared a 160-kcal high-protein yogurt snack (14 g protein) with high-fat snacks of equal calories in healthy women, and reported that dinner was eaten later after the yogurt (164 minutes versus 137 minutes after chocolate, p < 0.01). We use it only to establish that a yogurt-based protein source has been studied as a satiety vehicle. It does not test our recipes. Internal analysis: we searched the Protein column of all 201 recipes for Greek yogurt, tallied it by the eight body-type codes (EY, EI, WY, WI, MY, MI, WAY, WAI), and read its dose in grams. We then compared label macros and the internal Score for the two body types that always carry it (WY and WI, 53 recipes) against the five body types that never do (EI, MY, MI, WAY and WAI, 118 recipes). EY, which has 2 yogurt recipes out of 30, was held out of that comparison.
Results
Greek yogurt is in 55 of 201 recipes. Of those, 28 are WY and 25 are WI, which is every recipe in both body types (28 of 28 and 25 of 25). EY has 2 of 30. EI, MY, MI, WAY and WAI have none, so 118 of 118 recipes in those five body types go without it. In the 53 WY and WI recipes it averages about 185 g (188 g in WY, 183 g in WI, range 96 to 220 g) and makes up roughly three-quarters of the protein-slot weight. On the label, WY and WI shakes average 31.9 g protein, 41.6 g carbohydrate, 10.0 g fat and 375 kcal. The five yogurt-free body types average 33.7 g protein, 37.7 g carbohydrate, 10.4 g fat and 374 kcal. The yogurt body types carry 1.8 g less protein and 3.9 g more carbohydrate at essentially the same calories. The internal Score averages 14.4 against 15.3. Examples. WI-W1-VITAL-001-V1: Chickpeas 60 g + Greek Yogurt 205.8 g, Oat Milk 150 ml, Mango 17.9 g + Dates 4 g; 30.4 g protein, 52.6 g carbohydrate, 8.5 g fat, 8.2 g fiber, 398.5 kcal, Score 19. WY-W1-DETOX-011-V1: Chickpeas 30 g + Tofu 50 g + Greek Yogurt 120 g, Soy Milk 300 ml, Spinach 20 g + Beet 30 g; 34.2 g protein, 25.2 g carbohydrate, 14.0 g fat, 351.6 kcal, Score 14. For contrast, WAY-W1-HYDRATE-001-V1 has no yogurt: Tofu 50 g + Chickpeas 30 g + Chicken 60 g, Coconut Milk 150 ml + Coconut Water 150 ml, Carrot 40 g + Apple 62.5 g; 31.8 g protein, 44.5 g carbohydrate, 10.4 g fat, 391.4 kcal, Score 17.
What Failed
The comparison does not isolate yogurt. No WY or WI recipe lacks it, so there is no yogurt-free control inside either body type, and everything else that differs between the two groups (liquid bases, produce slots, other protein sources) travels with the yogurt. The one body type that does split, EY, has only 2 yogurt recipes against 28 without (33.7 g versus 32.1 g protein), too few to conclude anything. The 1.8 g protein gap and the 0.9-point Score gap therefore cannot be attributed to yogurt. The Score also does not behave the way a simple reading would predict: WI-W1-VITAL-001-V1 has the lowest protein of our three examples (30.4 g) and the highest Score (19). Finally, the Ortinau study tested a snack, not a blended shake, and we measured no satiety outcome in any MOMS recipe.
What We Learned
Our yogurt count is a body-type rule, not 55 independent formulation decisions. Any statement of the form "yogurt shakes score lower" or "yogurt shakes carry more carbohydrate" is really a statement about the WY and WI menus, and with no yogurt-free WY or WI recipe it cannot be tested from this database. The measurable fact is smaller: where yogurt anchors the protein slot, protein sits closer to our 30 g floor (the lowest WY or WI shake has 30.1 g) and carbohydrate runs higher.
What Changed at MOMS
We now read yogurt as a body-type default rather than a per-recipe ingredient, so any comparison that involves it is made within a body type, never across the whole menu. For WY and WI we are testing a small legume or tofu top-up on the lowest-protein recipes to widen the margin above the 30 g floor, and we have added one yogurt-free test formulation for each of the two body types to the backlog, so that the effect of yogurt can eventually be separated from the effect of the menu around it.
References
Ortinau LC, Hoertel HA, Douglas SM, Leidy HJ. Effects of high-protein vs. high-fat snacks on appetite control, satiety, and eating initiation in healthy women. Nutrition Journal. 2014;13:97.
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