Got Milk? Drink it!: image via yumsugar.com Milk helps advance weight loss? That’s a surprise to most of us, because many of the most popular diet programs exclude or minimize dairy products as part of their regimes. A two-year study shows not only that milk drinkers lose more weight, but that Vitamin D has other health benefits besides preventing skin cancer.
Researchers from Ben-Gurion University (Israel), the University of Leipzig (Germany), and Harvard University (U.S.) investigated the controversial role of daily calcium intake and serum vitamin D concentrations on weight loss. They followed 322 participants who were on low fat, low carbohydrates, or Mediterranean diets for two years.
After two years, the study found that those who consumed the highest dairy calcium content (average amount of two glasses of milk a day) lost about 12 pounds compared to participants who consumed the lowest dairy calcium content that lost an average of 7 pounds.
And it wasn’t just calcium that contributed to the weight loss. Vitamin D levels in milk, studied independently, showed that the skin cancer fighter also helped contribute to weight loss. Beyond weight loss, research shows that Vitamin D may also protect against diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Fat-free milk is recommended.
This study, Dairy calcium intake, serum vitamin D, and successful weight loss, is published online (previous to print) in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Diet Weight Loss Program
