14 DAY TRIAL // A new study focusing on weight loss concluded that, regardless of the diet, people who consumed the most milk, had the biggest weight loss.
The research carried out by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) scientists proved that people on a diet who consumed milk or dairy products, lost more weight on average than those who consumed little or no milk products at all.
More than 300 overweight men and women, aged 40 to 65, took part at a study assessing low fat, Mediterranean or low carbohydrate diets over a period of two years.
The study was led by Dr. Danit Shahar, of BGU’s S. Daniel Abraham Center for Health and Nutrition and the Faculty of Health Sciences as part of the Dietary Intervention Randomized Control Trial (DIRECT) conducted at the Nuclear Research Center in Israel.
Scientists found that, regardless of diet, subjects with the highest dairy calcium intake, equal to 12 oz. of milk or other dairy products (580 mg of dairy calcium), lost about 12 pounds (6 kg.) at the end of the two-year period.
Participants with the lowest dairy calcium intake, about 150 mg dairy calcium, or half a glass, only lost seven pounds on average.
Another phenomenon observed by the researchers, was that blood levels of vitamin D affected weight loss success.
People losing more weight had increasing vitamin D levels, and this conclusion confirmed previous research, stating that overweight people have lower blood levels of vitamin D.
Dr. Shahar says that “it was known that over-weight people had lower levels of serum vitamin D but this is the first study that actually shows that serum Vitamin D increased among people who lost weight.
“This result lasted throughout the two years that the study was conducted, regardless of whether they were on a low-carb, low fat or Mediterranean diet.”
vitamin D favors calcium absorption in the bloodstream and besides being exposed to the sun, you can take it from fortified milk, eggs and fatty fish.
American people usually consume less that the recommended daily requirement of Vitamin D, the equivalent of four glasses of milk.
The research was supported by the Israel Ministry of Health and the Israel Dairy Council, the Israel Chief Scientist Office, German Research Foundation and the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Research Foundation.
The results of the study were published in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.