Consumption of Dairy Products in Relation to Changes in Anthropometric Variables in Adult Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies.

BACKGROUND: The current state of knowledge regarding the association of dairy products and weight gain, overweight, and obesity is based on studies reporting contradicting and inconclusive results. The aim of the present study was thus to clarify the link between dairy consumption in relation to changes in anthropometric measures/adiposity by a meta-analytical approach. METHODS: For the meta-analysis PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Sciences, and google scholar were searched by two independent authors up to May 2016 with no restriction to language or calendar date. Prospective cohort studies reporting about intake of dairy consumption (including milk, yogurt, cheese, butter) and changes in body weight or waist circumference, risk of overweight, obesity, or weight gain were eligible. Pooled effects were calculated using a random effects model, and also a fixed effect model for sensitivity analysis. Due to the heterogeneity of statistical analytical approaches of the studies the analysis were done separately for beta-coefficients of changes in body weight and/or waist circumference per serving of dairy, for differences in weight gain/gain in waist circumference when comparing extreme categories of dairy consumption, and for odds ratios in regard to weight gain, overweight/obesity, or abdominal obesity. FINDINGS: 24 studies (27 reports) met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review, and 22 studies provided sufficient data for inclusion in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis of the five studies on changes in body weight per serving of dairy no significant results could be found for whole fat dairy and low fat dairy. However, there was inverse association between changes in body weight for each serving's increase of yogurt (beta: -40.99 gram/year, 95% CI, -48.09 to -33.88), whereas each serving's increase of cheese was positively associated (beta: -10.97 gram/year, 95% CI, 2.86 to 19.07). Furthermore, the highest dairy intake category was associated with a reduced risk of abdominal obesity (OR: 0.85; 95% CI, 0.76 to 0.95), and risk of overweight (OR: 0.87; 95% CI, 0.76 to 1.00) compared to the lowest intake category. No significant association could be observed for risk of weight gain. CONCLUSION: In summary the results of the meta-analysis still reflect that dairy consumption was not positively related to changes in body weight. Yogurt was the only dairy food that showed some evidence for a beneficial effect, where higher intakes were inversely associated a reduced risk of obesity, changes in body weight or waist circumference. Further research is needed, since the overall interpretation of the results is limited by heterogeneous risk estimates.

Metabolically healthy obesity and cardiovascular events: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIMS: Previous studies have provided inconsistent results about the cardiovascular risks for participants with metabolically healthy obesity (MHO). These uncertainties might partly reflect the lack of a uniform definition of MHO. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine whether there is a suitable approach that identifies obese participants who are not at an increased risk of cardiovascular events compared with healthy normal-weight participants. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty-two prospective studies were eligible for the meta-analysis. Using random-effect models, pooled relative risks (RRs) were calculated for the combined effects of obesity with the presence or absence of metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia and any of these metabolic factors. Participants with MHO defined by the absence of metabolic syndrome were at increased risk for cardiovascular events compared with healthy normal-weight participants (pooled RR 1.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.20-1.70), but had lower risks than unhealthy normal-weight (RR 2.07, 95% CI 1.62-2.65) and obese (RR 2.31, 95% CI 1.99-2.69) participants. The risk associated with participants who had MHO was particularly high over the long term. Similar risk estimates were observed when MHO was defined by other approaches. CONCLUSIONS: None of the approaches clearly identified an obese subgroup not at increased risk of cardiovascular events compared with normal-weight healthy participants. A benign obese phenotype might be defined by strict definitions, but insufficient studies exist to support this. More research is needed to better define MHO.

Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Changes in Anthropometric Variables in Adult Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies.

BACKGROUND: Randomized controlled trials provide conflicting results on the effects of increased fruit and vegetable consumption on changes in body weight. We aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies on fruit and vegetable consumption in relation to changes in anthropometric measures. METHODS: PubMed and EMBASE were searched up to July 2015 for prospective studies reporting on habitual fruit and/or vegetable consumption in relation to changes in body weight or waist circumference or to risk of weight gain/overweight/obesity in adults. Random-effects meta-analysis was applied to pool results across studies. FINDINGS: Seventeen cohort studies (from 20 reports) including 563,277 participants met our inclusion criteria. Higher intake of fruits was inversely associated with weight change (decrease) (beta-coefficient per 100-g increment, -13.68 g/year; 95% CI, -22.97 to -4.40). No significant changes could be observed for combined fruit and vegetable consumption or vegetable consumption. Increased intake of fruits was inversely associated with changes (decrease) in waist circumference (beta: -0.04 cm/year; 95% CI, -0.05 to -0.02). Comparing the highest combined fruit & vegetable, fruit, and vegetable intake categories were associated with a 9%, 17%, and 17% reduced risk of adiposity (odds ratio [OR]: 0.91, 95% CI, 0.84 to 0.99), (OR: 0.83, 95% CI, 0.71 to 0.99), and (OR: 0.83, 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.99), respectively. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis showed several inverse associations between fruit and vegetable intake and prospective improvements in anthropometric parameters, and risk of adiposity. The present meta-analysis seems to be limited by low study quality. Nevertheless, when combined with evolutionary nutrition and epidemiological modeling studies, these findings have public health relevance and support all initiatives to increase fruit and vegetable intake.