The effect of dairy products on liver fat and metabolic risk markers in males with abdominal obesity – a four-arm randomized controlled trial

Abstract

In recent years, epidemiological studies have reported links between the consumption of fermented dairy products, such as yogurt, and health; however, evidence from human intervention trials is scarce and inconsistent. We aimed to investigate the effect of consumption of four different types of dairy products (two fermented and two non-fermented) on liver fat (primary outcome) and metabolic risk markers in males with abdominal obesity. In this parallel randomized controlled trial with four arms, 100 males aged 30-70 years, with body mass index 28.0-45.0kg/m2, and waist circumference ≥102cm underwent a 16-weeks intervention where they were instructed to consume 400g/day of either milk, yogurt, heat-treated yogurt, or acidified milk as part of their habitual diet. Liver fat was measured by magnetic resonance imaging. In the complete case analyses (n=80), no effects of the intervention or differences between groups were detected in anthropometry or body composition including liver fat. Moreover, no effects were detected in inflammatory markers. Main effects of time were detected in blood pressure (decrease; P<0.001), insulin (decrease; P<0.001), C-peptide (decrease; P=0.040), homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (decrease; P<0.001), total cholesterol (decrease; P=0.016), low-density lipoprotein (decrease; P=0.033), high-density lipoprotein (decrease; P=0.006), and alanine transaminase (decrease; P=0.019). Interactions between group and time failed to reach significance. In conclusion, findings from our study do not confirm that fermented yogurt products are superior in reducing liver fat or improving metabolic risk markers compared to non-fermented milk products. In fact, all intervention products (both fermented yogurt products and non-fermented milk products) did not affect liver fat and caused largely similar modest favorable changes in some metabolic risk markers. The study was registered at www. gov (# NCT04755530).