Dairy, Moderate Fat Intake
May Help Kids Stay Lean

Diets that are moderate in fat and rich in dairy, fruits and vegetables may guard against obesity in children, a study released on Thursday suggests.

The study of 106 families showed that children whose diets were either high or low in fat gained more body fat as they grew older than did children whose fat intakes fell somewhere in between.

"We found that the children who were the leanest had moderate intakes of fat," said the study's lead author, Dr. Lynn L. Moore of Boston University School of Medicine.

While adults' weight-watching fads have shifted from fat-free to low-carb, high-fat, these findings point toward the benefits of moderation for children, according to Moore.

Among the children her team followed from preschool age on, those with the highest fat intake--35 percent or more of daily calories coming from fat--had put on the most body fat by early adolescence. Those who got less than 30 percent of their calories from fat gained less body fat, but it was the children whose fat intake fell somewhere in between who turned out to be the leanest.

These children consumed between 30 and 35 percent of their calories as fat, somewhat more than the 30-percent ceiling government guidelines currently recommend.

In addition, children who ate moderate levels of dairy foods like milk, yogurt and cheese put on less fat than kids with the lowest intake. Fruits and vegetables also appeared to cut fat gain, but dairy products had a stronger influence, according to Moore.

She presented the findings on Thursday in San Francisco at the American Heart Association's annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention. The study received funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Dairy Council.

According to Moore's team, the findings suggest that a diet moderate in fat and heavy in fruits, vegetables and dairy might lower the risk of adolescent obesity.

In the study, the one third of girls with the lowest dairy intakes consumed fewer than one and one quarter servings per day, while boys in the lowest-intake group got fewer than one and three quarter servings. Kids who consumed more than that put on much less fat as they grew older, according to the researchers.

National guidelines recommend two to three daily servings of dairy for adults and children older than 2 years of age.

Exactly why dairy products might help prevent excessive fat gain is not fully clear. Animal research suggests that calcium, by acting on hormones that help store calories as fat, could be the reason.

Moore said that calcium "might be one of the factors involved," but added that other compounds in dairy products could also be at work.

There was no evidence in the study that the fat content of dairy products mattered in body-fat gain. But if a child's overall dietary fat intake is high, according to Moore, low-fat dairy foods are a good option.