A recent study conducted by researchers at McMaster University suggests that a low calorie diet that is rich in proteins but low on carbohydrates is most effective in improving the bone health of overweight and obese young women when combined with physical exercise.

The researchers conducted the test on three different groups of obese and overweight women who were given low, medium or high amounts of dairy foods coupled with higher or lower amounts of protein and carbohydrates over a period of 16 weeks. All of the three groups also exercised every day including aerobic exercise and two additional workouts of circuit weightlifting per week.

The researchers found that the protein rich diet countered the accelerated bone loss during weight loss as it contained bone-supporting nutrients such as calcium, vitamin D and dairy-based protein.