The Study
Comparison of the effects of cows' milk, fortified soy milk, and calcium supplement on weight and fat loss in premenopausal overweight and obese women.
This study gave different diets to women trying to lose weight and found that those who drank more milk lost a bit more belly fat. But it doesn't prove milk alone caused the loss—maybe it was because they ate less of other things. We can say milk seems to help, but we can't be 100% sure.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Scientists gave different drinks to women trying to lose weight and saw who lost the most fat.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 549 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — drinking milk led to noticeably more fat loss than just cutting calories or taking calcium pills, suggesting milk has special fat-burning properties.
- 2Women who drank 3 glasses of low-fat milk daily lost 4.43 kg.
- 3Those who took calcium pills lost 3.89 kg, soy milk drinkers lost 3.46 kg, and the control group lost 2.87 kg.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Nutrition, metabolism, and cardiovascular diseases : NMCD
Year
2011
Authors
Shiva Faghih, A. Abadi, M. Hedayati, S. Kimiagar
Related Content
Claims (4)
Premenopausal women who are overweight or obese and consume three servings of low-fat cow's milk daily for eight weeks while cutting 500 calories per day lose more weight, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio than those who follow a diet low in calcium, take a calcium supplement, or drink fortified soy milk.
Premenopausal overweight and obese women who consume three servings of calcium-fortified soy milk daily while on a 500 kcal/day calorie deficit lose 3.46 kg of weight and reduce waist fat, but less than those who consume low-fat cow's milk under the same conditions.
In overweight and obese premenopausal women on a 500 kcal/day calorie deficit, taking 800 mg/day of calcium carbonate leads to 3.89 kg of weight loss, but less than the weight loss seen with low-fat cow's milk, meaning calcium alone does not explain all the fat loss benefits from dairy.
When people reduce their calorie intake, consuming about 1.3 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight along with dairy leads to more fat loss than consuming less protein without dairy.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.