12 Diet Questions Answered

Superfoods for Weight Loss

"Dairy foods like skim milk and low-fat yogurt top the list," says Michael Zemel, PhD, a professor of nutrition and medicine at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. In a study of 34 otherwise healthy obese adults, those who consumed three servings of light yogurt (for a total of 1,100 milligrams of calcium) daily lost 22 percent more weight and 61 percent more body fat than those on a low-dairy (500 milligrams of calcium) diet. Zemel explains that a high-calcium diet-1,200 milligrams per day-inhibits the production of calcitriol, a hormone that "tells" cells to generate more fat. Conversely, more calcitriol is released on a low-calcium diet, resulting in bigger, plumper fat cells. But supplements alone won't suffice; you need to consume dairy foods. "Bioactive compounds in milk, yogurt and cheese work with calcium to nearly double the effectiveness of fat burning and weight management," says Zemel.