A growing body of research suggests that milk, cheese and yoghurt may play a role in weight loss when part of a reduced kilojoule diet. Additional research is being conducted in this exciting area of nutrition. Below are some findings from recent studies organized by date of publication. Although most studies have found a weight loss effect with dairy calcium, in the interest of providing a fuller picture, we've included studies where the results were inconclusive.
1. Zemel M.B. Role of calcium and dairy products in energy partitioning and weight management. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2004; 79:907S-912S.
In this review the author concluded that dietary calcium plays a pivotal role in the regulation of energy metabolism because high-calcium diets increase lipolysis and preserve thermogenesis during caloric restriction, which thereby accelerated weight loss. Zemel found that these concepts are confirmed by epidemiological data and recent clinical trials, which indicate that diets that include at least 3 servings of dairy products a day result in significant reductions in adipose tissue mass in obese humans in the absence of caloric restriction and accelerate weight and body fat loss secondary to caloric restriction compared with diets low in dairy products.
2. Zemel M.B., et al. Dietary calcium and dairy products accelerate weight and fat loss during energy restriction in obese adults. Obesity Research. 2004; 12(4): 582-590.
In this 24-week intervention study, adults on a reduced-kilojoule, balanced diet that ate 3-4 servings of dairy foods each day lost an average of 12 kilojoules. This was significantly more than those in the high-calcium supplemented group who lost an average of 8.62 kilojoules and the low-calcium/low-dairy group who lost 6.81 kilojoules. Fat loss followed a similar trend, with people on the high-dairy diet losing significantly more body fat than those in the other two groups. The study suggests that 3-4 daily servings of milk, cheese or yoghurt help people lose more weight by helping them burn more fat in the abdominal region, when compared to those who just cut kilojoules or took calcium supplements.
3. Radaki T.L., Gertz E., Zemel MB et al. Effect of caloric restriction on bone mineral density and bone turnover in overweight individuals with differing calcium intake levels. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal 2004; 18:A923 (abstract).
Authors concluded that dairy rich diets markedly augment weight loss by targeting the fat compartment during energy restriction. Authors concluded that data suggest that 12-week modest energy restriction of diet with high dairy or high calcium suppressed bone turnover, resulting in increased bone mineral density.
4. Zemel M.S., Teegarden D, Van Loan M. et al. Role of dairy products in modulating weight and fat loss: a multicentre trial. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal 2004; 18:A845-6 (abstract).
Authors studied 68 overweight and obese adults in a 12-week randomized controlled multi-centre clinical trial. Subjects were placed on a 2000 kilojoule deficit with either low calcium (~ 600 mg calcium / day), high calcium (~ 1400 mg / day) or high dairy (3 dairy servings, diet totalling ~1400 mg calcium / day). High dairy resulted in nearly two-fold greater decreases in total fat loss, stomach fat loss and waist circumference. The authors concluded that dairy-rich diets augment weight loss by targeting fat loss during kilojoule restriction.
5. Shapses, S.A., et al. Effect of calcium supplementation on weight and fat loss in women. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 2004; 89(2):632-637.
In this study, three separate 25-week randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trials of 1000 mg calcium / day calcium supplementation in 100 obese women were analyzed. The results did not support the hypothesis that calcium supplementation at 1000 mg / day in conjunction with moderate kilojoule restriction has a beneficial effect on fat mass or weight loss over a 25-week intervention.
6. Farnsworth, E., et al. Effect of a high-protein, energy-restricted diet on body composition, glycemic control, and lipid concentrations in overweight and obese hyperinsulinemic men and women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2003; 78:31-39.
Authors studied 57 obese and overweight adults. Twenty-nine subjects were placed on a standard protein (SP) weight loss diet (16% energy from protein; 57% energy from carbohydrates and 27% energy from fat). Twenty-eight subjects were placed on a high protein (HP) weight loss diet (27% energy from protein; 44% energy from carbohydrates and 29% energy from fat). In women, total lean mass was significantly better preserved with the HP diet than the SP diet. Replacing carbohydrate with protein from meat, poultry and dairy foods has beneficial metabolic effects and no adverse effects on markers of bone turnover or calcium excretion.
7. Melanson, E.L., et al. Relation between calcium intake and fat oxidation in adult humans. International Journal of Obesity. 2003; 27:196-203.
Authors studied 35 non-obese, healthy adults to determine if total calcium intake and intake of calcium from dairy sources are related to whole-body fat oxidation. The researchers concluded that higher acute calcium intake is associated with higher rates of whole-body fat oxidation. However, total calcium intake was more of a predictor of fat oxidation than calcium intake from dairy sources.
8. Zemel, M.B. Role of dietary calcium and dairy products in modulating adiposity. Lipids. 2003; 38(2):139-146.
This research review concluded that low-calcium diets impede body fat loss, whereas high-calcium diets accelerate fat loss in mice subjected to caloric restriction. Dairy sources of calcium exert greater effects in attenuating weight and fat gain and accelerating fat loss.
9. Parikh S.J., et al. Calcium intake and adiposity. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2003; 77:281-287.
This review article concluded that regardless of the actual mechanism involved, most of the available cross-sectional, longitudinal, observational, and small controlled trials in humans and the available animal studies support the conclusion that dietary calcium may play a role in body weight regulation and supports the hypothesis that increasing dietary calcium or dairy intake may diminish future weight gain.
10. Zemel, M.B. et al. Dairy (yoghurt) augments fat loss and reduces central adiposity during energy restriction in obese subjects. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal. 2003; 17(5): A1088.
In this intervention study, obese adults who ate three servings of yoghurt daily as part of a weight loss plan lost 22% more weight, 61% more body fat and 81% more abdominal fat during a 12-week study compared to those who simply reduced kilojoules.
11. Teegarden D., et al. Symposium: Dairy product components and weight regulation. Journal of Nutrition. 2003; 133: 243S-256S.
This research review suggested that both calcium and other dairy product components may contribute to alterations in metabolic partitioning of dietary energy, resulting in modulation of body weight, body fat and the insulin-resistance syndrome. The analysis presented by Dr. Robert Heaney, a leading calcium nutrition researcher, in this symposium suggests that increasing the U.S. population intake of dairy calcium to 1000 mg/d may have dramatic effects in reducing the incidence of obesity.
12. Heaney R.P. Normalizing calcium intake: Projected population effects for body weight. Journal of Nutrition. 2003; 133:268S-270S.
Data describing the inverse relationship between calcium intake and body weight in 564 women were evaluated for their dispersion around their means, and the fraction above any given weight or rate of weight gain was calculated from the parameters of the normal distribution for the variable concerned. At the 25th percentile of calcium intakes, 15% of young women were overweight, and that fraction fell to only 4% at calcium intakes in the range of currently recommended values. Although calcium intake explains only a small fraction of the variability in weight or weight gain, shifting the mean of the distributions downward by increasing calcium intake can be estimated to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity by perhaps as much as 60 - 80%.
13. Newby P.K., et al. Dietary patterns and changes in body mass index and waist circumference in adults. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2003; 77:1417-1425.
Consuming a diet high in fruit, vegetables, reduced-fat dairy, and whole grains and low in red and processed meat, fast food, and soda was associated with smaller gains in Body Mass Index and waist circumference in average adults. Because foods are not consumed in isolation, dietary pattern research based on natural eating behavior may be useful in understanding dietary causes of obesity and in helping individuals trying to control their weight.
14. Periera M.A., et al. Dairy consumption, obesity, and the insulin resistance syndrome in young adults: The CARDIA Study. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2002; 287:2081-2089.
Among overweight young adults, increased dairy consumption may protect overweight people from the development of obesity and insulin resistance syndrome and may also reduce the risk of type-2 diabetes and heart disease. Obesity is one of the risk factors of insulin resistance syndrome.
15. Zemel M.B., et al. Increasing dairy calcium intake reduces adiposity in obese African-American adults. Circulation. 2002; 106 (suppl 2) II-610. Abstract.
In this study of obese (otherwise healthy) African-American adults, those who consumed at least three servings of dairy foods a day had lower total body fat, more lean body mass and lower insulin and systolic blood pressure compared to those who consumed less than one serving of dairy foods a day.
16. Davies, K.M., et al. Calcium intake and body weight. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 2000; 85(12): 4635-4638.
Women who consumed higher levels of calcium, the majority of which came from dairy products, had lower body weights than women who consumed less calcium. Estimates of the relationship indicated that a 1000-mg calcium intake difference would be associated with an 8-kg difference in mean body weight.
17. Lin Y.C., et al. Dairy calcium is related to changes in body composition during a two-year exercise intervention in young women. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 2000; 19(6):754-760.
In 54 young adult women enrolled in a two-year exercise program, calcium from dairy foods was associated with lower body weight and body fat in women consuming fewer than 1900 calories per day. These women gained less weight and body fat over two years in this randomized exercise intervention trial.
18. Zemel M.B., et al. Regulation of adiposity by dietary calcium. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal. 2000; 14:1132-1138.
The authors concluded that increasing dietary calcium suppresses adipocyte intracellular Ca2+ and thereby modulates energy metabolism and attenuates obesity risk in men and women. Increased calcium intake was associated with lower body fat, suggesting that increased dietary calcium may affect the rate of energy metabolism and reduce the risk of obesity.