Link between dairy, weight loss unclear

updated 8:05 p.m. ET July 17, 2005

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.

Those claims have received wide attention since 2003, when a coalition of dairy groups launched what has become the "3-A-Day" campaign, which advises that three servings a day of dairy supports weight loss.

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. Since 2000, he has published several studies that found people who eat a lower-calorie diet and consume the recommended low- or non-fat dairy servings lose nearly twice the weight as those who only cut calories.

But his research often is misunderstood, Zemel says. It is not a case of drink milk, lose weight. It works only for people who eat a low-calorie diet and who are not already consuming three servings of dairy.

That's a bit more nuanced than the "Lose More Weight" and "Burn More Fat" emblazoned across the packaging of a growing array of dairy products, though Zemel says the industry's claims accurately represent his findings.

Nuanced or not, the claims seemed like good news to Pam Syms, a 50-year-old Concord, N.H., woman who loves dairy and wants to lose a little weight.

Since seeing the industry's television ads a few weeks ago, Syms has brought yogurt to work every day. So far, no change in her weight, but she's happy for an excuse to eat dairy without guilt.

"Since I do like dairy products so much, it was just an affirmation that, 'Yes, I can keep eating those things,'" said Syms, who admits that, nevertheless, she's skeptical of the claims.

So was Zemel. He said that in 1988 when he made the first surprising connection between dairy and weight loss, "I couldn't get behind it without more data. By 2005, I feel we have that data."

So does Greg Miller of the National Dairy Council. The industry waited years before launching its campaign, he said, wanting first to amass enough studies to ensure solid scientific footing.

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