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L. L. MOORE, Dept. of Medicine, Boston Univ. School of Medicine, Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology, B-612, 715 Albany St., Boston, MA 02118 A few studies among adults suggest that increased dairy intake may result in weight loss. Only about 30% of American children consume the recommended servings of dairy/day. Data from the Framingham Children’s Study (FCS) as well as supplemental evidence relating to calcium and body fat among children in NHANES-III will be presented. We used data from 99 children followed over twelve years in the FCS to determine whether dairy intake impacted change in body fat from preschool to early adolescence. Diet was assessed yearly by means of 2-4 sets of 3-day diet records. Yearly anthropometry measures included height and weight (BMI), and triceps, subscapular, suprailiac, and abdominal skinfolds. We calculated slopes from 3 to 12 years of age for each anthropometry measure. We used analysis of covariance to examine the effect of dairy intake on the mean change in body fat from 3 to 12 years of age, adjusting for age, physical activity levels, % calories from saturated fat, baseline body fat, and maternal education. Children in the lowest sex-specific tertile of dairy servings/day had statistically significantly greater gains in BMI (0.67, 0.34, and 0.44 kg/m2 increase/year in the low to high tertiles, respectively) and sum of 4 skinfolds (8.5, 4.6, and 4.7 mm increase/year, respectively) than did children in the upper 2 tertiles. By the time of early adolescence (10 to 13 years), children in the 3 tertiles of dairy intake (from low to high) had a mean BMI of 21.1, 18.8, and 19.3 and a mean sum of 4 skinfolds of 83.0, 58.1, and 57.2 mm, respectively. This study provides no evidence that dairy intake has an adverse impact on body fat change in developing children and suggests that low levels of dairy intake may be associated with a greater acquisition of body fat during childhood.
Session 70, A role of dairy foods in weight management
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