Particularly when the proteins come from dairy foods.¹

The study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, compared three groups of overweight and obese, premenopausal women. Each group consumed either low, medium or high amounts of dairy foods coupled with higher or lower amounts of protein and carbohydrates.  The women exercised seven days per week for four months, including five days of aerobic exercise and two days of resistance training.

The researchers reported identical total weight losses among the groups, but the higher-protein, high-dairy group experienced greater whole-body fat and abdomen fat losses, greater lean mass gains and greater increases in strength.

"One hundred per cent of the weight lost in the higher-protein, high-dairy group was fat. An additional benefit was that the participants gained lean muscle mass," says Glenys Zucco, Dietitian Dairy Australia. "Preserving or gaining muscle is very important for maintaining metabolic rate and preventing weight regain, which can be major problem for people wanting to lose weight."

According to the researches the lower-protein, low-dairy group lost 0.7kg of muscle whereas the lower-protein, medium dairy group lost almost no muscle. The higher-protein, high-dairy group actually gained 0.7kg of muscle. The higher-protein, high-dairy group also lost twice as much fat from the belly than the lower-protein, low-dairy group.

These results support a recent scientific review published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2011. The researchers identified 16 studies which looked at the effect of dairy consumption on weight, body fat mass, waist circumference and lean muscle mass in adults.² After reviewing the studies, the researchers concluded that the consumption of 3-4 serves of dairy foods, as part of a calorie-restricted diet led to greater weight and fat loss compared to a standard calorie-restricted diet. The increased dairy diets also led to a greater loss of fat from around the tummy.

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¹.Josse, A.  et, al. (2011) ‘Increased Consumption of Dairy Foods and Protein during Diet- and Exercise-Induced Weight Loss Promotes Fat Mass Loss and Lean Mass Gain in Overweight and Obese Premenopausal Women’ Journal of Nutrition 141: 1626–1634, 2011
².Abargouei, E.S. et, al. (2012) ‘Effect of dairy consumption on weight and body composition in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials.’ International Journal of Obesity 1 -9