Just a quick post to highlight some further research that has been carried out into the effect of dairy and calcium on weight loss.
The US Dairy industry has been carrying on about how great milk is for weight loss quite bizarrely for a long time now, despite the fact that the only research they have to back this up was funded BY THEM and is laughable in terms of crediblity (and small in numbers - only three small studies with about 30 participants, in comparison with the findings from the 12-year nurses study of 78,000 nurses which showed milk to have no positive effects on weight loss or osteoporosis).
However, more and more concerned researchers and health bodies are starting to focus in on this dubious area and not surprisingly, all of the independent research offers a widely different conclusion than the dairy industry’s own research.
The latest study to be published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition . The research, titled ‘Calcium and dairy intakes in relation to long-term weight gain in US men’ involved:
the use of data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, a prospective cohort of men aged 40–75 y in 1986. Data on lifestyle factors and diet were updated biennially with self-administered questionnaires. The participants reported their body weight in 1986 and in 1998. The outcome in our study was 12-y weight change. We used multivariate linear regression to examine how baseline calcium intake (n = 23 504) and change in calcium intake (n = 19 615) were associated with weight change. Because dairy foods are the predominant source of calcium in the diet, we also evaluated a similar association with dairy intake.
…and found that:
Our data do not support the hypothesis that an increase in calcium intake or dairy consumption is associated with lower long-term weight gain in men.
This seems to be in stark contrast to the gotmilk ads which claim that we should all aim to consume 24 ounces of milk and dairy every 24 hours.
Hmmm, now…who to believe?
Further Reading:
USA Today’s Discussion Article
Get Real About Milk
Milk Sucks
Dairy UK
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