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Professor David J. Demko, PhD AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com 11-06-02 “People who are trying to lose weight need to know that there are certain foods, such as lowfat dairy products, that may help them control their weight,” says Susan J. Crockett, Ph.D., R.D., director of the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition. “Adding three to four servings of lowfat dairy products to a healthy, reduced-calorie diet may improve weight loss efforts." Dr. Crockett believes that pouring milk on your breakfast cereal, drinking milk at lunch and dinner, and having a cup of yogurt for a snack can make a difference in calcium intake.  Researchers at the University of Tennessee agree, "Eating lowfat dairy foods, such as yogurt and milk, just might help you lose weight." The University of Tennessee presented these findings last fall at the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO). The study was supported, in part, by Yoplait Yogurt.
The research team analyzed weight loss from low-calcium and rich-calcium diets, using lowfat yogurt as the calcium source. “This study supported our earlier findings that lowfat dairy foods affect how fat cells do their job,” said Michael Zemel, Ph.D., director of the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee. “The calcium in lowfat dairy foods causes fat cells to make less fat and turns on the machinery to break down fat.” The University of Tennessee researchers conducted this study using overweight mice. The mice were fed calorie-restricted diets, differing only in the amount or source of calcium. One group of mice was fed a diet low in calcium. Two other groups were fed calcium-rich diets. Lowfat yogurt was the source of calcium in one diet. The mice fed the diet with yogurt had the greatest weight loss - more than twice as much as the mice fed the low-calorie, calcium-poor diet. In a separate analysis, Dr. Zemel found that people who consumed more than three servings of dairy products each day were less likely to be obese. Zemel recommends that individuals consume 1200 to 1600 mg of calcium daily, which could be obtained by eating a healthy diet including three to four servings of lowfat yogurt, skim milk or lowfat cheese. This level of calcium intake is slightly higher than the recommended Daily Value for calcium (1000 mg). Unfortunately, most women and men don't consume as much calcium as they need. On average, women typically consume about 600 mg of calcium per day and men consume a little more than 700 mg per day, according to a Dietary Intake Research Study conducted by the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition. See related articles in the AgeVenture archives. AgeVenture Lifestyle Features AgeVenture Headline News
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