Milk: Does it do a waistline good?

Healthnotes Newswire—That milk mustache might just help keep the extra pounds from landing on your hips, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study looked at the effects of dairy and vitamin D on weight loss and found that people who ate more calcium from dairy and had higher blood levels of vitamin D after six months of dieting and lost more weight in the long run.

Vitamin D has been making news headlines for several years now, with reports that in addition to its well-known positive effects on bone, it also helps protect against cancer, multiple sclerosis, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and more. Studies have found that vitamin D status is also associated with body mass index (BMI), but we’re not sure why this is.

Calcium is another nutrient with frequent, though inconsistent, links to body weight. Several studies have shown that higher dairy intake is related to weight loss, while others have failed to show a connection. The new study looked at calcium from dairy products, not that from supplements.