Calcium: The New Weight-Loss Supplement For Children?
Submitted by Greg Arnold, DC, September 7, 2004, abstracted from “Longitudinal calcium intake is negatively related to children's body fat indexes” in the December 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association
Childhood obesity has increased an extraordinarily alarming rate. For children ages 6 to 11, childhood obesity has doubled over the last two decades, from 7 percent in 1980 to 15.3 percent in 2000. For children aged 12 to 19, it has more than tripled, increasing from 5 percent 1980 to 15.5 percent in 2000.1
Increased soda consumption combined with decreased activity levels, may be the most prominent causes of obesity. One study found each soda consumed increased the risk for obesity by 60 percent2 while one study found 61.5 percent of children age 9-13 do not participate in any organized physical activity and 23 percent do not exercise at all (CDC).
Armed with the fact that 80 percent of overweight children become overweight adults,4 increasing physical activity while educating children on proper nutrition and supplementation has become paramount. A recent study has shed more light on the role calcium may help play in weight loss.5
Examining the relationship between calcium levels and body fat percentages in children, researchers found calcium intake in children to vary between 820 and 1,400 mg per day but found that the children with the highest levels of calcium intake had the lower body fat levels. In contrast, children with the lowest levels of calcium intake had the highest body fat levels. The researchers concluded that “children should be strongly encouraged to regularly include calcium-rich foods and beverages in their diet.”
Unfortunately, since calcium supplementation was not discussed in the study as a possible contributor to the weight loss, it is very difficult to recommend calcium supplementation as a way to help promote weight loss. Whether it was the dairy products themselves or the calcium that caused the weight loss is difficult to say.
Reference:
1 American Obesity Association website: “Prevalence of Childhood Obesity” www.obesity.org/subs/childhood/prevalence.shtml
2 Ludwig, D.S., K.E. Peterson, and S.L. Gortmaker, Relation between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a prospective, observational analysis. Lancet, 2001. 357(9255): p. 505-8
3 Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Physical Activity Levels Among Children 9-13 years of age. Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report 2003; 52(33): 785-788
4 Dietz, W.H., Overweight in childhood and adolescence. N Engl J Med, 2004. 350(9): p. 855-7
5 Skinner, J.D., et al., Longitudinal calcium intake is negatively related to children's body fat indexes. J Am Diet Assoc, 2003. 103(12): p. 1626-31
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