Boys who get plenty of calcium in their diets use more calories and metabolise food better when their bodies are at rest than those who consume less of the nutrient.
Boys who get plenty of calcium in their diets use more calories and metabolise food better when their bodies are at rest than those who consume less of the nutrient.
Calcium is known to help regulate metabolism, so if it has effects on body fat accumulation, it may do so by influencing calorie use at rest. Food sources of calcium include milk, yogurt, cheese, leafy greens such as spinach and calcium-fortified cereals and orange juice. To investigate the relationship between children's calcium intake and their resting energy expenditure - the calories required keeping the body functioning at rest, researchers from UK collected detailed dietary information on 315 children aged between 7 and 12 years. They tested the children's body fat levels and, after an overnight stay in the research lab, their resting calorie expenditure - measured indirectly through a test that gauges oxygen use and carbon dioxide production as a person breathes.
No strong direct relationship was found between the children's calcium intake and their levels of body fat. There was, however, a correlation between higher calcium intake and higher resting metabolism and a higher resting metabolism, in turn, was related to lower body-fat levels. When the researchers looked at boys and girls separately, it was found that the link between calcium and resting metabolism was apparent only in boys.
The above findings suggest that calcium may affect body-fat accumulation via its influence on resting energy expenditure, especially in boys.
Calcium is known to help regulate metabolism, so if it has effects on body fat accumulation, it may do so by influencing calorie use at rest. Food sources of calcium include milk, yogurt, cheese, leafy greens such as spinach and calcium-fortified cereals and orange juice. To investigate the relationship between children's calcium intake and their resting energy expenditure - the calories required keeping the body functioning at rest, researchers from UK collected detailed dietary information on 315 children aged between 7 and 12 years. They tested the children's body fat levels and, after an overnight stay in the research lab, their resting calorie expenditure - measured indirectly through a test that gauges oxygen use and carbon dioxide production as a person breathes.
No strong direct relationship was found between the children's calcium intake and their levels of body fat. There was, however, a correlation between higher calcium intake and higher resting metabolism and a higher resting metabolism, in turn, was related to lower body-fat levels. When the researchers looked at boys and girls separately, it was found that the link between calcium and resting metabolism was apparent only in boys.
The above findings suggest that calcium may affect body-fat accumulation via its influence on resting energy expenditure, especially in boys.
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