April 28, 2005 – Dairy products may not have the slimming virtues that some would like to attribute to them. A new study calls into question the potential slimming effect of dairy products, recently mentioned by various researchers. The controversy continues.
The study, carried out at Purdue University (United States) was conducted over a year with 155 healthy young women whose body mass index was within normal limits.1. The subjects were randomly divided into three groups: a control group whose calcium intake did not exceed 800 mg per day, a group who increased their intake of dairy products so that the daily intake of calcium was from 1,000 mg to 1,100 mg, and a third having done the same to achieve a calcium intake of 1,300 mg or 1,400 mg per day.
After one year, no weight loss or gain was observed in any of the three groups and the ratio of body fat to lean body mass remained unchanged for all of the groups. topics.
According to Dorothy Teegarden, professor of nutrition and co-author of this study, it seems that the slimming effect of calcium or dairy products, if it really exists, is so weak that studies should be carried out over several years before. obtain potentially statistically significant results.
It will be recalled that researchers recently claimed that dairy products have a beneficial effect on fat metabolism and may play an important role in the prevention and treatment of obesity.2. In recent years, epidemiological studies have also made it possible to hypothesize that calcium and dairy products could help to counter overweight. However, the clinical trials carried out so far have given mixed results and researchers do not agree on the impact of these substances on body weight, some calling it important, others minor (see our fact sheet. Calcium).
However, we do not exclude the possibility that dairy products may contain substances other than calcium which could have a positive effect on body fat (conjugated linoleic acid, in particular). In fact, we do not fully understand the mechanism by which dairy products exert a slimming action, if there is one.
Pierre Lefrançois – PasseportSanté.net
According to Reuters Health
1. Gunther CW, Legowski PA, Lyle RM, McCabe GP, Eagan MS, Peacock M, Teegarden D. Dairy products do not lead to alterations in body weight or fat mass in young women in a 1-y intervention.Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Apr; 81 (4): 751-6.
2. Zemel MB. Role of dietary calcium and dairy products in modulating adiposity. Lipids. 2003 Feb; 38 (2): 139-46. Review. See also our new Calcium to control your weight?
