Does Dairy Do the Waistline Some Good?
Eat the yogurt but watch the calories.
You may have seen recent reports about the virtues of eating more dairy to help with weight loss efforts. The rich matrix of nutrients in milk and yogurt—including calcium, fatty acids and protein—has been said to account for their belly-flattening powers. But after combing through past research, investigators in Spain have some bad news for the milkman.
In a report in Nutrition Reviews—which involved analyzing dozens of past papers examining the association between dairy and body composition—the team determined that dairy consumption interventions can have a positive impact on body weight and fat mass, but only if accompanied by appropriate dietary calorie restriction.
People should not believe that spooning up a bowl of yogurt or drowning their morning cereal in moo juice will help them shed weight unless they also watch—and, if necessary, reduce—overall calorie intake.
See also: Full-Fat Dairy Makes a Comeback?
Matthew Kadey, MS, RD
Matthew Kadey, MS, RD, is a James Beard Award–winning food journalist, dietitian and author of the cookbook Rocket Fuel: Power-Packed Food for Sport + Adventure (VeloPress 2016). He has written for dozens of magazines, including Runner’s World, Men’s Health, Shape, Men’s Fitness and Muscle and Fitness.
