The Dairy Diet Debate

The American Dairy Council's campaign to encourage adults to drink 3 glasses of milk a day, based on a 2004 Tennessee study, suggests that drinking milk is an excellent aid to weight loss.

This conclusion is based on a theory that the calcium in dairy products increases the body's ability to lose fat, a theory that has already produced yet another diet book.

Subsequent studies question the whole proposition and research reports with very different outcomes are now being released.

Again, our dieting hopes are dashed. Now I'm stuck with a refrigerator full of non-fat milk, terrified to drink it and gain weight but uncomfortable with just throwing it away. (I'll give it to my skinny neighbor down the hall who continues to benefit from my dieting mishaps - funny, she looks as if she's gained a few pounds).

Why do studies lead to such contradictory findings? If you have ever tried to design a study of any human behavior, you will find that it is impossible to cover every single variable - we are just too complex in our minds, our bodies, and our interaction with the environment. A year of graduate statistics convinced me of the dangers of accepting the results of many experimental designs.

By all means, read the latest findings and try to glean some kernel of information that is helpful to you personally. Then throw the rest away as the academic "publish or perish" debris that it is.

Look into your mind and heart: you know what weight loss requires and a calorie is a calorie, is a calorie.

Another easy path to slimdom is exposed.

Back to the hard work.