Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Paper
  • Published:

Dairy food consumption and body weight and fatness studied longitudinally over the adolescent period

International Journal of Obesity volume 27, pages 1106–1113 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Although research suggests that adolescents, particularly girls, may avoid dairy products due to concerns that these foods are ‘fattening,’ the longitudinal relation between consumption of dairy foods and relative weight status during adolescence has not been explored. Using data from the MIT Growth and Development Study, a longitudinal study designed to assess the metabolic, dietary, and behavioral factors that predict changes in body composition with growth and development in girls during the adolescent period, the current analysis was undertaken to examine the relation of dairy food intake with relative weight status and percentage body fat (%BF).

SUBJECTS: A total of 196 nonobese premenarcheal girls 8–12 y old were enrolled between 1990 and 1993. Girls were followed until 4 y postmenarche.

MEASUREMENTS: At each annual follow-up visit, data were collected on %BF by BIA, body mass index (BMI) z-score, and dietary intake (assessed by FFQ). The present analysis is limited to the 178 girls who have at least three annual visits and who have valid anthropometric and food frequency data. In all, 1198 individual measurements were analyzed.

RESULTS: At study entry, participants had a mean (s.d.) BMI z-score of −0.27 (0.89), a mean (s.d.) %BF of 23.4 (4.7), and obtained 19.9% (9.2) of daily calories from dairy foods. Linear mixed effects modeling indicated no relationship between BMI z-score or %BF and measures of dairy food or calcium consumption.

CONCLUSION: Avoidance of dairy foods due to a possible association with relative body weight is not supported by these findings. We find no evidence that dairy food consumption is associated with BMI z-score or %BF during adolescence, but further research specifically designed to address this question is needed.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bonjour JP, Carrie AL, Ferrari S, Clavien H, Slosman D, Theintz G, Rizzoli R . Calcium-enriched foods and bone mass growth in prepubertal girls: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. J Clin Invest 1997; 99: 1287–1294.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Cadogan J, Eastell R, Jones N, Barker ME . Milk intake and bone mineral acquisition in adolescent girls: randomised, controlled intervention trial. BMJ 1997; 315: 1255–1260.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Johnston CC, Miller JZ, Slemenda CW, Reister TK, Hui S, Christian JC, Peacock M . Calcium supplementation and increases in bone mineral density in children. N Engl J Med 1992; 327: 82–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Chan GM, Hoffman K, McMurry M . Effects of dairy products on bone and body composition in pubertal girls. J Pediatr 1995; 126: 551–556.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Gerrior SA, Putnam J, Bente L . Milk and milk products: their importance in the American diet. Food Rev 1999; 21: 29–37.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Albertson A, Tobelmann RC, Marquart L . Estimated dietary calcium intake and food sources for adolescent females: 1980–1992. J Adolesc Health 1997; 20: 20–26.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Fleming KH, Heimbach JT . Consumption of calcium in the US: food sources and intake levels. J Nutr 1994; 124S: 1426S–1430S.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Gordon AR, McKinney P . Sources of nutrients in students' diets. Am J Clin Nutr 1995; 61: 232S–240S.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. US Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service. 1999. Food and nutrient intakes by children, 1994–96, 1998. ARS, USDA: Riverdale MD.

  10. Amschler DH . Calcium intake in adolescents: an issue revisited. J Sch Health 1999; 69: 120.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Cavadini C, Siega-Riz AM, Popkin BM . US adolescent food intake trends from 1965 to 1996. West J Med 2000; 173: 378–385.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Miller GD, Jarvis JK, McBean LD . The importance of meeting calcium needs with foods. J Am Coll Nutr 2001; 20: 168S–185S.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Barr SI . Dieting attitudes and behavior in urban high school students: implications for calcium intake. J Adolesc Health 1995; 16: 458–464.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Neumark-Sztainer D, Story M, Dixon L, Resnick MD, Blum RW . Correlates of inadequate consumption of dairy products among adolescents. J Nutr Educ 1997; 29: 12–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Packard P, Krogstrand KS . Half of rural girls aged 8 to 17 years report weight concerns and dietary changes, with both more prevalent with increased age. J Am Diet Assoc 2002; 102: 672–677.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Gulliver P, Horwath CC . Assessing women's perceived benefits, barriers, and stage of change for meeting milk product consumption recommendations. J Am Diet Assoc 2001; 101: 1354–1357.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Novotny R, Han JS, Biernacke I . Motivators and barriers to consuming calcium-rich foods among Asian adolescents in Hawaii. J Nutr Educ 1999; 31: 99–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Smart EJ, Gilchrist NL, Turner JG, Macguire P, March R, Hooke EA, Frampton CM . Teenage girls dietary intake, attitude toward dairy products, and bone mineral density one year after the cessation of a dairy product food supplement study. In: Burckhardt P, Dawson-Hughes B, Heaney RP (eds). Nutritional aspects of osteoporosis. Springer-Verlag: New York; 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Jacqmain M, Doucet E, Despres JP, Bouchard C, Tremblay A . Calcium intake and body composition in adults (Abstract). Obes Res 2001; 9: 175S.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Zemel MB, Hang S, Greer B, Dirienzo D, Zemel PC . Regulation of adiposity by dietary calcium. FASEB J 2000; 14: 1132–1138.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Davies KM, Heaney RP, Recker RR, Lappe JM, Barger-Lux MJ, Rafferty K, Hinders S . Calcium intake and body weight. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2000; 85: 4635.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Lin YC, Lyle RM, McCabe LD, McCabe GP, Weaver CM, Teegarden D . Dairy calcium is related to changes in body composition during a two-year exercise intervention in young women. J Am Coll Nutr 2000; 19: 754–760.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Pereira MA, Jacobs DR, Van Horn L, Slattery ML, Kartashov AI, Ludwig DS . Dairy consumption, obesity, and the Insulin Resistance Syndrome in young adults: The CARDIA Study. JAMA 2002; 287: 2081–2089.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Carruth BR, Skinner JD . The role of dietary calcium and other nutrients in moderating body fat in preschool children. Int J Obes Relat Metals Disord 2001; 25: 559–566.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Must A, Dallal GE, Dietz W . Reference data for obesity: 85th and 95th percentiles of body mass index (wt/ht2) and triceps skinfold thickness. Am J Clin Nutr 1991; 53: 839–846.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Ogden CL, Kuczmarski RJ, Flegal KM, Mei Z, Guo S, Wei R, Grummer-Strawn LM, Curtin LR, Roche AF, Johnson CL . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2000 growth charts for the United States: improvements to the 1977 National Center for Health Statistics version. Pediatrics 2002; 109: 45–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Phillips SM, Bandini LG, Compton DV, Naumova EN, Must A . A longitudinal comparison of body composition by total body water and bioelectrical impedance in adolescent girls. J Nutr 2003; 133: 1419–1425.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Ching P, Dietz WH . Reliability and validity of activity measures in preadolescent girls. Pediatr Exerc Sci 1995; 7: 389–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Naumova EN, Must A, Laird NM . Tutorial in biostatistics: evaluating the impact of ‘critical period’ in longitudinal studies of growth using piecewise mixed effects models. Int J Epidemiol 2001; 30: 1332–1341.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Tanasescu M, Ferris AM, Himmelgreen DA, Rodriguez N, Escamilla-Perez R . Biobehavioral factors are associated with obesity in Puerto Rican children. J Nutr 2000; 130: 1734–1742.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Chan GM, McNaught T . The effects of dairy products on children's body fat (Abstract). J Am Coll Nutr 2001; 20: 577.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Barr SI, McCarron DA, Heaney RP, Dawson-Hughes B, Berga SL, Stern JS, Oparil S . Effects of increased consumption of fluid milk on energy and nutrient intake, body weight, and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy older adults. J Am Diet Assoc 2000; 100: 810–817.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Summerbell DD, Watts C, Higgins JPT, Garrow JS . Randomised controlled trial of novel, simple, and well supervised weight reducing diets in outpatients. BMJ 1998; 317: 1487.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Diggle PJ, Liang KY, Zeger SL . Design considerations. In: Analysis of longitudinal data. Oxford University Press: Oxford; 1994. pp 23–32.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Perks SM, Roemmich JN, Sandow-Pajewski M, Clark PA, Thomas E, Weltman A, Patrie J, Rogol AD . Alterations in growth and body composition during puberty. IV. Energy intake estimated by the Youth–Adoelscent Food-Frequency Questionnaire: validation by the doubly labeled water method. Am J Clin Nutr 2000; 72: 1455–1460.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Heaney RP, Davies KM, Barger-Lux MJ . Calcium and weight: clinical studies. J Am Coll Nutr 2002; 21: 152S–155S.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Zemel MB, Thompson W, Zemel P, Nocton A, Milstead A, Morris K, Campbell P . Dietary calcium and dairy products accelerate weight and fat loss during energy restriction in obese adults (Abstract). Am J Clin Nutr 2002; 75: 342S–343S.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    S M Phillips, E Naumova & A Must

  2. Department of Health Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    L G Bandini

  3. Clinical Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    L G Bandini, H Cyr & S Colclough-Douglas

  4. Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Waltham, MA, USA

    L G Bandini

  5. Gerald J and Dorothy R Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA

    A Must

Authors
  1. S M Phillips
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. L G Bandini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. H Cyr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S Colclough-Douglas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. E Naumova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. A Must
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A Must.

Additional information

Studies were conducted at the General Clinical Research Center at MIT and supported by NIH Grants MOI-RR-00088, DK-HD50537, 5P30 DK46200 and by the National Dairy Council, Rosemont, IL.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Phillips, S., Bandini, L., Cyr, H. et al. Dairy food consumption and body weight and fatness studied longitudinally over the adolescent period. Int J Obes 27, 1106–1113 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802370

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802370

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links