Research
Macro partitioning
Dairy intake facilitates weight loss and improves body composition (reducing fat mass, preserving lean mass) during energy restriction in adults, and is associated with a reduced risk of childhood obesity.
If you are trying to lose weight, include dairy in your diet. It helps you feel full, preserves your muscle, and reduces body fat. One serving a day is associated with lower obesity risk in children.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Meta-analyses support that in adults, dairy products facilitate weight loss and improve body composition, that is, reduce body fat mass and preserve lean body mass during energy restriction
Why this rating
Based on meta-analyses of RCTs and observational studies.
Source
Milk and dairy products: good or bad for human health? An assessment of the totality of scientific evidence
Tanja Kongerslev Thorning et al. · Food & Nutrition Research · 2016
DOI 10.3402/fnr.v60.32527
narrative_reviewCited 475×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- High intake of milk and dairy products (200-300 ml/day) is associated with a reduced risk of stroke and does not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, contrary to the belief that saturated fat in dairy increases CVD risk.Good
- Dairy consumption is associated with a reduced risk of colorectal, bladder, gastric, and breast cancers, while showing no association with pancreatic, ovarian, or lung cancer, and inconsistent evidence for prostate cancer.Good
- Plant-based drinks are not nutritionally equivalent to cow's milk and should not be recommended as full substitutes without further evidence, as they often lack protein and may contain harmful additives or inorganic calcium.Moderate
Related findings · Macro partitioning
- Total daily protein intake of 1.6 g/kg/day is sufficient for maximizing resistance training-induced muscle gains, with an upper confidence interval of 2.2 g/kg/day.Strong
- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
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