Elsevier

The Journal of Nutrition

Volume 141, Issue 9, September 2011, Pages 1626-1634
The Journal of Nutrition

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 Women1231,2,3

https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.111.141028Get rights and content
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Abstract

Weight loss can have substantial health benefits for overweight or obese persons; however, the ratio of fat:lean tissue loss may be more important. We aimed to determine how daily exercise (resistance and/or aerobic) and a hypoenergetic diet varying in protein and calcium content from dairy foods would affect the composition of weight lost in otherwise healthy, premenopausal, overweight, and obese women. Ninety participants were randomized to 3 groups (n = 30/group): high protein, high dairy (HPHD), adequate protein, medium dairy (APMD), and adequate protein, low dairy (APLD) differing in the quantity of total dietary protein and dairy food-source protein consumed: 30 and 15%, 15 and 7.5%, or 15 and <2% of energy, respectively. Body composition was measured by DXA at 0, 8, and 16 wk and MRI (n = 39) to assess visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume at 0 and 16 wk. All groups lost body weight (P < 0.05) and fat (P < 0.01); however, fat loss during wk 8–16 was greater in the HPHD group than in the APMD and APLD groups (P < 0.05). The HPHD group gained lean tissue with a greater increase during 8–16 wk than the APMD group, which maintained lean mass and the APLD group, which lost lean mass (P < 0.05). The HPHD group also lost more VAT as assessed by MRI (P < 0.05) and trunk fat as assessed by DXA (P < 0.005) than the APLD group. The reduction in VAT in all groups was correlated with intakes of calcium (r = 0.40; P < 0.05) and protein (r = 0.32; P < 0.05). Therefore, diet- and exercise-induced weight loss with higher protein and increased dairy product intakes promotes more favorable body composition changes in women characterized by greater total and visceral fat loss and lean mass gain.

Abbreviations used:

AMDR
acceptable macronutrient distribution range
APLD
adequate protein, low dairy
APMD
adequate protein, medium dairy
CRP
C-reactive protein
HPHD
high protein, high dairy
HR
heart rate
I.D.E.A.L.
Improving Diet, Exercise, and Lifestyle for Women Study
VAT
visceral adipose tissue

Cited by (0)

1

Supported by the Dairy Farmers of Canada, The Dairy Research Institute, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

2

Author disclosures: A. R. Josse, S. A. Atkinson, M. A. Tarnopolsky, and S. M. Phillips, no conflicts of interest.

3

This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00710398.