Comparison of the effects of cow's milk, fortified soy milk, and calcium supplement on plasma adipocytokines in overweight or obese women

Background: Obesity is an escalating public health problem. Adipose tissue synthesizes and secretes a variety of biological molecules, termed adipcytokines, that may contribute to obesity-linked metabolic abnormalities including cardiovascular diseases. Objectives: We compared the effects of cow's milk, calcium-fortified soy milk, and a calcium supplement on adipo cytokines in premenopausal overweight and obese women. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, 100 healthy, overweight or obese premenopausal women were randomly assigned to one of the following dietary regimens for 8 weeks: (a) a control diet (b), a calcium-supplemented diet containing 800 mg/day calcium carbonate, (c) a high-milk diet containing three servings of low-fat milk, and (d) a soy-milk diet containing three servings of calcium-fortified soy milk. All diets required a 500-kcal/day reduction in energy. At baseline and after 8 weeks, anthropometric indices and plasma leptin, adiponectin, TNFa, CRP, and IL-6 were measured. Results: Plasma CRP and leptin were significantly correlated with all anthropometric indices except for WHR, and plasma adiponectin had a significant negative correlation with WHR at baseline. Plasma leptin, CRP, and IL-6 decreased significantly in all groups (P <0.01; except for CRP in the control group), but there were no significant differences among the four groups for these three measures. Conclusions: We conclude that a dietary reduction of 500-kcal/day has beneficial effects on plasma adipocytokines, but calcium intake either as calcium carbonate or as milk leads to no differences. These results merit further research. (C) 2010 Kowsar M.P.Co. All rights reserved.