Milk more filling than juice: Study

Having a glass of skimmed milk instead of fruit juice at breakfast may helppeople feel fuller all the way up to lunch. People often avoid dairy products when they are trying to cut calories and lose weight. Some previous studies have suggested that proteins in general are more satisfying and act as stronger appetite suppressants than carbohydrates, Health News reported.

To investigate the effects of drinking skimmed milk in comparison with a fruit juice at breakfast post-meal satiety and energy intake at lunch, researchers identified 34 overweight adults (21 women and 13 men).

The participants attended two sessions one week apart and at each session, they consumed toast and jam with 600 ml skimmed milk or 600 ml fruit juice as breakfast.

On both days, participants were later given lunch and asked to eat until they felt comfortably full. They also rated their hunger before breakfast, at several points throughout the morning, and again after lunch.

It was found that the participants tended to feel more satisfied after their milk breakfast. What’s more, they ate an average of 8.5 percent fewer calories at lunch. The calories consumed at lunch were higher among the fruit juice drinkers than in the milk drinkers, and the difference was statistically significant.

Though reasons for the findings are not completely clear, one possibility is that the proteins in milk are more effective in satisfying people’s appetites than are the sugars in fruit juice.

The above findings indicate that a low-fat dairy product like skim milk may help keep a person’s appetite under better control when used in place of a more sugary item with similar calories.