Recent research indicates that increasing consumption of dairy foods may have the potential to lower the prevalence of global and abdominal obesity.
This cross-sectional study investigated whether dairy food consumption was associated with the prevalence of global and abdominal obesity in the 1352 participants in the ‘Observation of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Luxembourg’ survey.
Total dairy intake was inversely associated with the likelihood of global obesity (-49%). But above all it is the consumption of milk and full-fat dairy products that, in this population, reduces long term weight gain in the highest consumers.
Participants in the highest tertile of full-fat dairy intakes (milk, cheese, yogurt) had a significantly lower likelihood of being obese (-45%) or displaying abdominal obesity (-35%), compared with those in the lowest intake tertile, after full adjustment for confounding factors.