Background:
Dairy products have been positively associated with weight loss and inversely associated with weight gain. However, limited number of studies has investigated the role of dairy consumption in the prevention of becoming overweight or obese. The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate how consumption of dairy products was associated with the risk of becoming overweight or obese among initially normal-weight women.
Methods:
We studied 19,180 women aged ≥45y from the Women’s Health Study free of cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and diabetes with an initial body mass index (BMI) of 18.5-<25 kg/m
2
. Dairy intake was assessed through a 131-item food-frequency questionnaire. Total dairy intake was defined as the sum of servings per day of low-fat dairy products (skim/low-fat milk, sherbet, yogurt, and cottage/ricotta cheese) and high-fat dairy products (whole milk, cream, sour cream, ice cream, cream cheese, other cheese, and butter). Women self-reported body weight along with obesity-related risk factors on baseline and annual follow-up questionnaires. In multivariable-adjusted analyses, we included the following covariates: baseline age, randomization treatment, BMI, smoking status, vigorous exercise, postmenopausal status, postmenopausal hormone use, history of hypercholesterolemia, history of hypertension, multivitamin use, alcohol intake, total energy intake, and fruit and vegetable intake.
Results:
During a mean follow-up of 11.2y (216,979 person-years), 8,582 women became overweight or obese (BMI ≥25 kg/m
2
). The multivariable-adjusted mean changes in body weight (95% confidence interval (CI)) during the follow-up were 3.9 (3.5-4.3), 3.9 (3.5-4.2), 3.8 (3.5-4.2), 3.7 (3.4-4.1), and 3.4 (3.0-3.7) lbs in quintiles 1-5 of total dairy consumption (P-trend: 0.01), respectively. In multivariable-adjusted analyses
(Table 1)
, women in the highest versus lowest quintile of had a rate ratio (RR) of 0.91 (0.84-0.98, P-trend: 0.16) of becoming overweight or obese. No associations were observed in highest quintiles of low-fat dairy and high-fat dairy intakes.
Conclusion:
Greater consumption of dairy products may be inversely ssociated with risk of becoming overweight or obese in women.
Can Full-Fat Dairy Intake Contribute to Preventing Diabetes and Cardiometabolic Issues?