Link between dairy, weight loss unclear

Got milk? And high hopes it will help you shed a few pounds? The dairy industry is counting on it, thanks in part to a $200 million ad campaign that confidently touts studies suggesting a connection between consuming dairy products and losing weight. But dieters might want to delay sporting milk mustaches for the moment.

Though the National Dairy Council and the researchers it pays stand by their claims, few others have endorsed the dairy-diet link. Even some scientists whose research supports that idea say its conclusions are premature.

"The bulk of the studies suggest a possible role, but there are inconsistencies in the data," said Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity expert at Children's Hospital Boston. In a 2002 study, he found that dairy aided weight loss.

"My concern is the advertising claims by the Dairy Council have well outstripped the available data," he said.

The federal government also recommends three dairy servings a day, but doesn't support the weight-loss claim.

The dairy campaign is based on research by Michael Zemel, a nutrition professor at the University of Tennessee who began studying the link between dairy and weight during the late 1980s. Zemel has received nearly $2.1 millionin funding from the Dairy Council since 1998.

Dr. Walter Willett, a Harvard University nutrition expert whose recent research suggests dairy doesn't help weight loss, said Zemel's studies are too small to sustain the industry's claims.

"You need to look across all the evidence," he said. "The larger randomized trials that have been done, they don't show weight loss. If anything, they show weight gain."

That view was reflected in a 2002 review of other dairy-weight studies by Susan Barr, a University of British Columbia nutrition professor. She found most studies showed no connection and two showed weight gain.

Associated Press 7/18/2005