The Dairy Research Institute (DRI) has focused research on the connection between dairy consumption and healthy weight, including among children and adolescents. DRI, formed in 2010 under the leadership of dairy producers through Dairy Management Inc.™ (DMI), strengthens U.S. dairy’s access to and investment in technical research to drive innovation and grow sales in the United States and around the world.
Scientific evidence indicates that consuming milk and milk products does not adversely affect body weight or body composition in children and adolescents.
Moreover, the majority of studies indicate a beneficial or neutral relationship between the consumption of milk and/or calcium and body weight and body composition in children and adolescents, according to results reviewed in a recent issue of Current Nutrition & Food Science, a leading journal that is widely read by nutrition and food scientists.
These results support the positive role that dairy can play as part of a balanced, healthy diet and lifestyle. They also reinforce the notion that dairy should not be singled out as a contributing factor in children who are classified as overweight or obese. Current estimates indicate the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents could almost double by 2030.
“It’s rewarding for producers to see sound science again confirm dairy’s position as part of a healthy diet,” said Paul Rovey, Arizona dairy producer and chair of DMI, which manages the national dairy checkoff.
The Current Nutrition & Food Science article reviewed 36 observational studies that examined the relationship between dairy food consumption or calcium intake on body weight and body composition in children and adolescents. The results from nearly all of the studies demonstrate either a beneficial or neutral relationship.
The results from the few randomized clinical trials that investigated the effects of dairy consumption on body weight and body composition indicate that milk intake has a neutral effect on body weight and body composition in children and adolescents.
Source: Dairy Management Inc.