Dietary calcium is known to help in controlling obesity. A new study coming up in the April issue of International Journal of Obesity (2005) says that dietary calcium present in the yogurt has got anti-obesity properties and helps in a coordinated increase in lipid utilization and decrease in lipogenesis.
The study took recordings of two groups of obese subjects, one group was put on balanced deficit diets and the other was put on yogurt treatment. Dietary macronutrients and fiber were held constant for both the groups. Records were taken of body weight, body fat and fat distribution, blood pressure and circulating lipids, at the beginning and end of the12 week intervention.The people on the yogurt diet showed marked loss of fat and loss of lean tissue. There was also marked inch loss from the waist and trunk for the subjects on the diet supplemented with yogurt.
The researchers hold that the study shows that substituting yogurt for other foods can significantly increase the weight loss due to reduction in central adiposity. Hence obese people may include plenty of yogurt in their food in order to reduce weight.
