Recently, I have been inundated with queries like “Can drinking milk reduce weight,” “how much milk should I drink to bring about weight loss,” or “how can milk help me in weight reduction,” courtesy the famous 2424milk.com advert that claims that 24 oz of low fat milk every 24 hrs will make you lose weight. Well, this blog post aims at answering all your quandaries about milk and weight loss.                                                                           

Milk, as many of us might already know is a rich source of proteins, vitamins, and minerals like calcium. Though, full fat milk is a rich source of fat, slim milk or no fat milk has no or very little fat in it. Apart from these principle components, milk also consists of several bio-active elements that have varying effects on our body.

Now, many comparative studies have proved that people on a calorie restricted diet supplemented with low fat dairy products lose significantly more weight than people on a dairy-free diet. Though, several studies have attributed this property of milk to its high calcium content; a recent study published in AJCN proved conclusively that calcium supplementation had little or no effect on weight loss. Thus, the study concluded that the weight loss from milk might be caused by other factors rather than calcium alone.                                     

Moreover, according to famous Nutritionist Dr. Gopalan, most of the milk and weight loss studies are based on data collected from people on calorie restricted diet, rather than people on normal ad lib diet. Thus, in all probabilities the real cause of weight loss might be the calorie restriction rather than milk per say.                 

So, getting back to the main question, can milk reduce weight – the answer is both yes and no. Yes, you can reduce weight drinking milk, if the milk is low fat and you follow a strict low calorie regimen. However, full fat milk will increase the fat percentage of your diet and make you gain weight rather than lose anything.                                              

Thus, I would conclude that there is no miracle cure for obesity and reduction in total calorie intake is the one and only way to lose weight. All other medicines, foods, and supplements that allegedly help reduce weight have little or no effect until your total calorie intake is not reduced.                   

Image credits: weightoff.me