Eating more dairy while dieting didn’t make bad cholesterol go up or good cholesterol go down—it didn’t hurt heart health markers at all.

When overweight or obese people eat fewer calories and either eat a little dairy or a lot of dairy, they lose about the same amount of weight and belly fat—dairy doesn’t help them lose more.

Eating more dairy doesn’t make your body burn more calories at rest—your metabolism stayed the same whether you ate a lot or a little dairy while dieting.

People who ate more dairy didn’t move more or less than those who ate less dairy—both groups were equally active, so activity levels didn’t affect the results.

Eating more dairy while dieting doesn’t reduce inflammation in fat tissue—both groups had the same levels of immune cells and inflammatory signals in their fat.

If you're overweight, eating more saturated fat from dairy — like cheese or butter — for a month probably won't hurt your blood sugar control or cholesterol levels compared to eating less of it.