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 synthesiz.es 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, TNF?, 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.