Effects of Increased Consumption of Fluid Milk on Energy and Nutrient Intake, Body Weight, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Healthy Older Adults

doi:10.1016/S0002-8223(00)00236-4

Journal of the American Dietetic Association

Volume 100, Issue 7, July 2000, Pages 810-817

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-8223(00)00236-4 Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective To assess the impact of increased consumption of milk, without other dietary advice, on older adults' energy and nutrient intakes, weight, cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure, plasma lipid levels), and quality of life.

Subjects/setting Two hundred four healthy men and women, aged 55 to 85 years, who consumed fewer than 1.5 dairy servings per day were chosen from six US academic health centers.

Design Randomized, controlled open trial.

Intervention Advice to increase skim or 1% milk intake by 3 cups per day (n=101) or to maintain usual diet (n=103) for 12 weeks after a 4-week baseline period. Main outcome measures Changes in energy and nutrient intake assessed from 3-day food records, body weight, blood pressure, and plasma lipid levels.

Statistical analyses performed Group-by-time analysis of variance with repeated-measures, χ² test.

Results Compliance with the intervention was good. Compared with controls, participants in the milk-supplemented group significantly increased energy, protein, cholesterol, vitamins A, D, and B-12, riboflavin, pantothen ate, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, and potassium intakes. Prevalence of nutrient inadequacy, assessed for nutrients with Estimated Average Requirements, decreased among women in the milk group for magnesium (40% .at baseline vs 13% at 12 weeks, P<.001) and vitamin B-12 (6% vs 0%, P<.05) and tended to decrease (P<.10) for protein and thiamin (women) and magnesium and vitamin B-6 (men). The milk group gained 0.6 kg more than control group (P<.01); however, weight gain was less than predicted, which suggests some compensation for the added energy from milk. Blood pressure decreased similarly over time in both groups. Total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and the ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, were unchanged. Triglyceride levels increased within the normal range in the milk group (P=.002). Quality of life scores were high at baseline and remained high throughout.

Applications/conclusions Older adults can successfully increase milk intake, thereby meaningfully improving their nutrient intakes. Dietitians can play a key role in disseminating this advice. J Am Diet Assoc. 2000; 100:810-817.

Section snippets

Subjects and Methods

This multicenter, randomized, controlled trial was conducted at 6 medical centers: Creighton University, Omaha, Neb; Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland; Mage-Women's Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa; University of Alabama at Birmingham; University of California at Davis; and the US Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center, Tufts University, Boston, Mass. The institutional review board at each center approved the protocol. All participants provided informed consent.

Results

Review of the daily milk logs showed that most participants in the milk group drank approximately 3 glasses of milk. For women, mean daily consumption was 2.90, 2.89, and 2.86 glasses at weeks 4, 8 and 12, respectively; in men, corresponding means were 3.14, 3.24, and 3.04.

Discussion

Subjects in this study were healthy, free-living, well-educated older adults who had relatively good nutrient intakes at baseline. Compared with average intakes for similarly aged individuals, study subjects had higher intakes of most nutrients, lower percentages of energy from fat, and higher intake of dietary fiber (1). Advice to add 3 glasses of fluid milk daily enhanced nutrient intakes, reduced the prevalence of nutrient inadequacy in women, and did not appear to have substantive adverse

Applications/Conclusions

■ The fluid milk intervention assessed in this study was well tolerated by participants, easily incorporated in the usual diet as reflected by good compliance, associated with substantial improvements in nutrient intake, and had no meaningful adverse effects. Accordingly, advice to add skim or 1% milk to the diet is a safe and effective means of improving nutrient intake in older adults. However, the small increases in body weight and serum triglyceride level suggest that individuals already at

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