Yogurt is frequently hailed as a health food, but a new study suggests the creamy dairy snack isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The study, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, indicates yogurt consumption does not lead to improvements in health, based on the experiences of 4,445 Spanish adults tracked by researchers with the Autonomous University of Madrid.

The investigators analyzed the relationship between the participants' health-related quality of life and yogurt consumption for an average of 3.5 years, Medical News Today reports.

"The regular consumption of yogurt was not linked to health-related quality of life," said lead researcher Esther López-García. "For future research more specific instruments must be used which may increase the probability of finding a potential benefit of this food."

Past studies have suggested that yogurt could influence health-related quality of life due to its high calcium content — vital for protecting the bones against debilitating disease. Other research has associated yogurt consumption with direct health benefits, such as a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.

But the latest study found people who consumed six or fewer servings of yogurt a week reported similar levels of physical health as those who one serving every day or followed the Mediterranean diet.

"In comparison with people that 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," said López-García.