Calcium and Fat Loss

Several recent studies about calcium have shown some unexpected, surprising, even "shocking" results. In earlier experiments, researchers were trying to find out what effect calcium might have on lowering blood pressure and came up with a totally unexpected side effect - the people in the study were also losing a lot of body fat. As lead author Hang Shi put it, "The effect is very significant, much more than we imagined it would be." Research shows that as calcium intake goes up, body weight and body fat both go down.

Scientists like Michael Zernel, Ph.D. have concluded that the calcium in our fat cells helps determine whether fat is stored or broken down by our body. It seems that calcium encourages the fat to be burned rather than be stored and that the more calcium there is, the more fat that will be burned. Another theory is that calcium may also "bind" with the fat - allowing us to excrete it rather than have it build up. An extra-added bonus is that a calcium rich diet also appears to target belly fat in particular, one of the worst problem areas for many people.

In these experiments, both calcium supplements and low fat dry milk were used as sources of calcium in the diet. While the supplements produced a 42% decrease in body fat, the low fat dry milk did even better with a 60% decrease in body fat. Calcium from low-fat dairy sources appears to produce the best results.

Now before we go out and buy a gallon of ice cream to start our new diet, we need to clarify these studies' results. Nowhere does it say that "fat" is helpful; it's the calcium that is responsible for these surprising results. Unfortunately, many of our common sources of calcium are loaded with fat, like ice cream, whole milk, high fat yogurt, etc. To achieve the benefits noted in these studies, we need to take in **low fat** sources of calcium, like skim milk, fat free yogurt, etc. (and of course continue to watch our calories). If you are lactose intolerant, you might also consider some non-dairy sources of calcium like broccoli, dark green leafy vegetables, calcium enriched orange juice, salmon, almonds and oats.

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