Dairy may fight obesity
times and as a result products that make health claims (functional
foods) have been driving the dairy sector's growth. However, a new
study has suggested that even non-added-value products may
counteract obesity.
Lynn Moore, an epidemiologist at Boston University School of Medicine, conducted research on the topic of childhood obesity in the US, and concluded that children who consume just two servings of dairy food a day are linked to a substantial reduction in fat.
It has however, been noted that the underlying case of obesity is anunbalanced diet and too little exercise, but the research has shown that dairy products have an impact on a child's weight loss.
In the last 20 year childhood dairy intake has been falling while the sales of soft drink have risen by in the region of 300 per cent.
With the mass awakening of the consumer health conscious - parents may opt to encourage their children to increase their dairy consumption as a result of such studies, and this may have an affect on dairy consumption.
Nevertheless, researchers have admitted that there has been no study that has shown an actual link between dairy consumption and actual weight control. Research has only indicated that dairy products may help weight loss.
It has been concluded that dairy products have an affect on fat levels. Researchers are not sure why there is a link. It is a possibility that calcium has an affect on weight loss, and some products have been released in Europe that market calcium's fat burning ability.
It could simply be a possibility that dairy products are more filling and therefore children do not feel hungry after consuming these products, researchers admit.
The global functional foods market is thought to be worth €73 billion and the dairy sector is estimated at being worth €2.5 billion.
