FORGET limp celery sticks – a world-first study could see dieters indulging in dairy-rich products.
People striving to lose weight can feast on cheese, yoghurt, milk and other dairy foods in the Dairy Fit research project at Bundoora’s RMIT campus.
Researchers need volunteers from the northern suburbs to trial three diets to test the theory that high-protein diets, including dairy products, with restricted carbohydrates lead to the loss of fat, not lean muscle.
As a world-first, researchers will conduct cutting-edge whole-body scans to compare the muscle and fat ratios before and after dieting.
Professor John Hawley said dairy products had a “bad rap” in the diet world.
“Previously, people who want to lose weight have been told to cut down or cut out dairy food,” he said.
But high-protein dairy product and low-carbohydrate diets could lead to more than weight loss, he said.
Most diets were indiscriminate and led to the loss of both fat and lean body mass, but people on high-protein and restricted carbohydrate diets preserved lean muscle while losing fat. Professor Hawley said
there was growing evidence full-fat dairy products were better than low-fat for maintaining muscle mass.
The Dairy Health and Nutrition Consortium provided $500,000 for the three-year project.
The study is for people aged 35-59 years. For further information or to partcipate in the study, contact study manager Sharleen at dairyfit@rmit.edu.au
