Vegan Nutrition with Dina Aronson, M.S. R.D.

Dina Aronson, MS, RD is a vegan dietitian whose specialties include chronic disease prevention, vegetarian/vegan nutrition, and lifestyle management. She is the founder and director of VeganRD.com, a nutrition consulting company. Active in many vegetarian nutrition organizations, Dina was the recipient of the American Dietetic Association's Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year Award in 2002.

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I have heard that increasing dairy intake in one's diet will help him or her lose weight. Is this true?
- Kelly

Dear Kelly,

The claim that dairy products promote weight loss is designed to sell a lot of milk, yogurt, cheese, and ice cream. It has been packaged into a neat "3-A-Day" campaign, encouraging everyone to consume three servings of dairy products a day. This effort features slender, attractive women in print and television ads.

A few years ago, faced with plummeting sales of dairy products, the dairy industry decided to appeal to America's biggest obsession - weight loss - and take that approach to marketing its products. They funded studies showing a connection between dairy intake and weight loss (Michael Zemel is the most popular researcher paid by the dairy industry), and heavily publicize any favorable results, no matter how slight. It turns out that the link between dairy intake and weight loss is not well supported by scientific evidence.

The research sometimes shows small effects of weight loss accompanying a low calorie diet including three servings of dairy products per day. But here are some things to consider:

The dairy industry is a wealthy, powerful group. Their message is heavily biased.
One of the most publicized studies by Zemel on the dairy-weight loss connection compared only 11 people consuming a high-dairy diet to a control group. It is irresponsible to make a broad claim based on such a tiny study.
At least two studies by Zemel showed no weight loss advantage for dieters consuming three servings of dairy products a day. These studies are not publicized by the dairy industry.
Many other studies examining the effects of a high-dairy, low calorie diet found no significant differences in weight loss between high-dairy and low-dairy dieters.

Bottom line? The dairy industry's weight loss ad campaigns are misleading, selectively reporting only the studies that benefit their bottom line. Americans love fad diets, and the dairy industry employs clever people to feed upon this obsession.

It's interesting to step back from the controversy and look at the big picture. There are lots of ways to lose weight: some are healthy, and some are not. Weight loss is, and always will be, about burning more calories than you take in.

Studies conducted by a variety of researchers in countries around the world show time and time again that whole-foods, plant-based diets are naturally lower in calories than diets containing animal products, and that vegetarians weigh less than their meat-eating counterparts, and that vegans weigh less still than vegetarians who consume dairy products. In fact, about a month ago a review of the literature was published, showing the effect of vegetarian diets on weight loss. Vegans are also at lower risk for a slew of diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and many cancers. The same cannot be said for those who consume a lot of dairy products; in fact, a high intake of dairy products may increase the risk of some diseases. If your goal is to attain and maintain a healthy weight and to be as healthy as you can be, filling up on the milk of a cow is not the way to go. Fill up instead on vitamin-, mineral-, and fiber-rich legumes, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Disclaimer: The advice given here is for eductional purposes only. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

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