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Milk drinkers may be thinner

BEER-SHEVA, Israel, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Milk drinkers may have the advantage over others when losing weight, an Israeli researcher says.

Danit R. Shahar of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, in Israel and colleagues say milk contains key nutrients -- such as calcium and vitamin D -- that help in weight loss.

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Shahar and colleagues tracked 300 overweight or at-risk men and women ages 40-65 who were either on a low-fat, Mediterranean or low-carbohydrate diets for two years.

The researchers found participants on either diet with the highest dairy calcium intake six months into the study -- averaging about 580 milligrams per day, or the amount in about two glasses of milk -- lost about 12 pounds at the end of the two years compared to about 7 pounds for those with the lowest dairy calcium intake -- about 150 mg or about one-half glass.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also finds at six months that each additional 6-ounce serving of milk or milk products -- about three-quarters of a glass of milk -- was associated with successful weight loss 10 pounds above the average.

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