Results of a clinical trial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition are reported to show that increasing dietary calcium speeds up weight and fat loss. The acceleration effect is starker when the calcium is derived from lower fat milk products compared to an equivalent amount of supplemental calcium.
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The 24-week study divided people into three groups. The control group took low calcium products, a second group was given high levels of calcium, primarily in supplement form, and the third group was give high levels of dairy products (three to four servings of low-fat milk products).
All groups were given a low-calorie diet. The control group lost 6.4% of their body weight. By comparison, the high calcium group lost 8.1% of body weight, and the high dairy group lost 10.9% of body weight. Relatively speaking, this means the high dairy group lost 70% more weight than the control group, a press release stated.
“The average participant weighing 180 pounds, lost 11 pounds on the low calcium control diet, 15 pounds on the high calcium diet and 20 pounds on the high dairy diet,” said Dr Michael Zemel, one of the authors of the study. “We also found the weight loss was also reflective of fat loss around the torso,” said Zemel.
The results support a growing body of research linking a high calcium diet with weight loss. The theory is that a high calcium diet suppresses the hormone calcitriol. This is believed to cause fat cells to make less fat and switch on their fat burning mechanism.
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By GlobalDataThe amount of milk products needed to make an effect (three to four servings) is within the range recommended by Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating.
