A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Tennessee suggests that eating youghurt helps fat loss in the body.
The researchers found that obese adults who ate three servings of fat-free yogurt a day as part of a reduced-calorie diet lost 22 percent more weight and 61percent more body fat than those who simply cut calories and didn't bone up on calcium.
Yogurt eaters also lost 81percent more fat in the stomach area than non-yogurt eaters.
"Not only did yogurt help the study participants lose more weight -- the average weight loss was 14 pounds -- they were about twice as effective at maintaining lean muscle mass.
This is a critical issue when dieting -- you want to lose fat, not muscle.
Muscle helps burn calories, but it is often compromised during weight loss," lead researcher Michael Zemel said.
In the study, researchers compared the effects of adding yogurt to a reduced-calorie diet on weight loss in 34 healthy obese adults who were divided into two groups.
For 12 weeks, the first group ate three 6-ounce servings of fat- free yogurt providing about 1,100 milligrams of calcium per day; the other group ate only one serving of dairy providing 400-500 milligrams of calcium per day.
Both groups ate a controlled diet that contained 500 fewer calories than normal to stimulate weight loss.