Dairy Products Won't Make You Skinny, Evidence Says

Apparently Big White feels differently.

Of course, relying on evidence has never been Big White's strong suit.

Adding a couple of servings of milk or yogurt to their daily diet probably won't help people lose weight, a new meta-analysis suggests.

Some research has suggested dairy products may help people feel full for longer, or that the calcium in milk and yogurt can prevent the build-up of fat tissue. But those remain unproven theories.

"The results are not very consistent," said Dr. Frank Hu from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who worked on the new review.

"Overall, I think the evidence doesn't support the claim that dairy products are beneficial for weight loss," he said.

Dr. Hu and his colleagues analyzed the results of 29 studies involving a total of 2,101 participants, some of whom were randomly assigned to add extra dairy to their diets.

The set-ups of those studies varied widely, with dairy intakes ranging from one to more than six servings per day and diet interventions lasting between one month and two years. Some studies put participants on a reduced-calorie diet to promote weight loss, while others did not.

On average, people assigned to the extra-dairy groups lost 0.3 more pounds - about 0.14 kilograms - than the comparison group, a difference that wasn't statistically significant. They did lose slightly more body fat - about one extra pound worth.

When the researchers broke down the results further, they found dairy products seemed to confer some benefit over the short term when they were part of a weight-loss diet. But otherwise, adding more milk, yogurt and cheese didn't help people lose weight or keep it off, Dr. Hu and his colleagues reported online August 29th in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Big White bites the dust, as it should.