Can dairy help you absorb less fat?

In a study conducted in Denmark it has been observed that the more calcium you include in your diet the less body fat you will have and the less you will weigh.

Can this really be true? Isn’t cheese the enemy of every conscientious dieter? Perhaps not.

We took the Truth about Food team to Denmark to meet the scientists behind the study to see if it really worked.

According to the science, compared to a low-calcium intake a high calcium intake increases the excretion of fat in the faeces. This means the more dairy calcium you include in your diet the less fat will be absorbed by the digestive system.

"a high calcium intake increases the excretion of fat in the faeces"

In our study we tested our group on both diets. Week one was a diet high in calcium (2000mg) and week two a low calcium diet (500mg). Crucially, both diets had an identical calorific content and were calculated to have the same fat content.

Amazingly on the high dairy calcium diet twice the percentage of fat our subjects ate came out in their stools to when they were on the low calcium diet.

So, when you eat dairy products not all their calories count- great news for cheese lovers, although not an excuse to start the docelatte diet, high fat diets can still lead to obesity.

Take a look at some Takeaway Tips on how to be slim.

The test was conducted by Professor Arne Astrup (and two of his research students – Nathalie Bendsen and Anne-Louise Hother Nielsen), head of Human Nutrition Department, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark.