The effect of dairy consumption with exercise and healthy eating on the metabolic profile in overweight/obese adolescent girls

Abstract

Childhood obesity is a major health concern. Strategies to reduce this condition, including lifestyle modification with exercise and healthy nutrition, can reduce disease risk. Canada’s Food Guide (CFG) recommends a well balanced and healthy diet, however, children and adolescents are not meeting these recommendations, and this too is associated with poorer health. It has been proposed that the intake of dairy products can improve cardiometabolic risk factors in adults. However, research findings are inconsistent for dairy and cardiometabolic variables among adolescents. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of dairy consumption, as part of a 12-week exercise and nutrition program, on fasting serum lipids (total cholesterol, LDL-c, HDL-c, triglycerides), insulin and glucose in overweight (OW) and obese (OB) adolescent girls. Twenty adolescents (10-18 years) were randomly assigned to two groups: recommended dairy (RDa, n=9) or low dairy (LDa, n=11). The RDa group consumed CFG’s recommended servings of dairy (4 servings/d), and the LDa group consumed ≤ 1 serving/d (reflecting habitual intakes). All participants followed an exercise program (three 60-minute sessions/wk) and a eucaloric weight management diet. There were no changes in the metabolic profile following the intervention, and no differences were seen between groups. Waist circumference (p=0.003) and fat mass (p<0.001) decreased and lean mass (p=0.01) increased after 12 weeks, with no differences between groups. Significant correlations were seen between body mass change and insulin change, waist circumference change and total cholesterol, insulin and HOMA-IR changes, and QUICKI change and body fat percent change. Further analysis with a larger sample size is required to determine the effect of increased dairy consumption as part of a lifestyle intervention on metabolic variables in OW/OB adolescent populations.