Greek yogurt may calm inflammation in teenage athletes better than whey protein, according to a new study that tracked bone health and immune markers through a full competitive season. Researchers say Greek yogurt appears to provide real inflammation benefits that whey protein isolate does not, although the effects on bone health remained mixed for both groups.
Researchers at Brock University in Ontario, Canada, studied 47 athletes ages 14 to 17 who played high-impact sports, including soccer, basketball, volleyball, track and field, and lacrosse. The study, led by Madison Bell of the university’s Department of Kinesiology, appears in The Journal of Nutrition.
The athletes spent eight weeks eating their normal diets to set a baseline. They were then randomly split into two groups for sixteen weeks. One group consumed two daily servings of Greek yogurt. The other drank two daily servings of a whey protein powder beverage. Both supplements were compared for protein content, allowing researchers to evaluate how a whole food matches up against a processed protein isolate.
Protein intake holds steady while bone markers diverge by gender
Blood samples were collected four times during the study to measure markers of bone formation, bone breakdown, and inflammation. Overall, protein intake did not increase much in either group.
According to researchers, this was likely because the athletes already stuck to protein-rich diets and may have cut back elsewhere to offset the extra calories from the supplements.
Bone markers moved in different directions depending on gender and supplement type. Male athletes on a diet that included Greek yogurt saw declines in osteocalcin, a bone formation marker, over the season. Female athletes on whey protein showed shifts in osteoprotegerin, which helps regulate bone breakdown.
The resorption marker CTX-I rose temporarily in the Greek yogurt group before settling back down. Sclerostin, a hormone that suppresses bone growth, ended the season higher than baseline only in the whey protein group.
Greek yogurt shows clear inflammation benefits over whey protein
The clearer signal came from inflammation markers. Whey protein was linked to a rise in IL-1β midway through the season, while Greek yogurt showed no such spike. IL-6, another inflammation marker, dropped in the Greek yogurt group but remained flat in the other group. According to Bell and colleagues, fermented dairy, such as Greek yogurt, may offer inflammation benefits by keeping markers more stable during heavy training.
Female athletes also showed sharper swings in TNF-α and IL-10, two markers connected to inflammation, particularly within the whey protein group.
The study did not include a group that received no supplement at all. Researchers also did not track training intensity by sport or menstrual cycle phase in female athletes, both of which could affect results. Bell’s team called for larger studies with a placebo group to confirm the findings.
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