London, April 22 (IANS): If you are taking yogurt daily in the hope that it would help you lose weight and strengthen your bones, you could well be putting your efforts in the wrong place.

A study involving more than 4,000 people has found no link between the regular intake of yogurt and improvement in physical health.

"The regular consumption of yogurt is not linked to health-related quality of life," said lead author Esther Lopez-Garcia from Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain.

The study carried out in Spain evaluated whether there is a link between the regular consumption of yogurt and the physical and mental improvement in health-related quality of life (HRQL).

The three-and-half-year-long study involved 4,445 Spanish adults.

"In comparison with people who did not eat yogurt, those who ate this dairy product regularly did not display any significant improvement in their score on the physical component of quality of life and although there was a slight improvement mentally, this was not statistically significant," Lopez-Garcia noted.

Until now, several research papers have suggested that the consumption of yogurt could influence HRQL either directly or indirectly.

For the experts, one of the reasons may be because it is rich in calcium, protecting the bones and which could help to combat osteomuscular illnesses -- one of the conditions with greatest negative impact on the quality of life.

Also, more specifically, its intake has been associated with lesser weight increase and a lower rate of cardiovascular diseases.

The new study was published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.