title: Association between milk and milk product consumption and anthropometric measures in adult men and women in India: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The nutritional aetiology of obesity remains unclear, especially with regard to the role of dairy products in developing countries.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether milk/milk product consumption is associated with obesity and high waist circumference among adult Indians.
  
  
  METHODS
  Information on plain milk, tea, curd and buttermilk/lassi consumption assessed using a Food Frequency Questionnaire was obtained from the cross-sectional sib-pair designed Indian Migration Study (3698 men and 2659 women), conducted at four factory locations across north, central and south India. The anthropometric measures included were Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist Circumference (WC). Mixed-effect logistic regression models were conducted to accommodate sib-pair design and adjust for potential confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After controlling for potential confounders, the risk of being obese (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m(2)) was lower among women (OR = 0.57;95%CI:0.43-0.76;p ≤ 0.0001) and men (OR = 0.67;95%CI: 0.51-0.87;p = 0.005), and the risk of a high WC (men: >90 cm; women: >80 cm) was lower among men (OR = 0.71;95%CI:0.54-0.93;p = 0.005) and women (OR = 0.79;95%CI:0.59-1.05;p>0.05) who consume ≥1 portions of plain milk daily than those who do not consume any milk. The inverse association between daily plain milk consumption and obesity was also confirmed in sibling-pair analyses. Daily tea consumption of ≥ 1 portion was associated with obesity (OR = 1.51;95%CI:1.00-2.25;p>0.050) and high WC (OR = 1.65;95%CI:1.08-2.51;p>0.019) among men but not among women but there was no strong evidence of association of curd and buttermilk/lassi consumption with obesity and high waist circumference among both men and women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The independent, inverse association of daily plain milk consumption with the risk of being obese suggests that high plain milk intake may lower the risk of obesity in adult Indians. However, this is an observational finding and uncontrolled confounding cannot be excluded as an explanation for the association. Therefore, confirmatory studies are needed to clarify this relationship.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Ambika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Satija
authors.forename: Sutapa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Liza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bowen
authors.forename: Neha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Khandpur
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kinra
authors.forename: Dorairaj
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prabhakaran
authors.forename: Kolli Srinath
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: George Davey
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Shah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ebrahim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003611:Dairy Products; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008892:Milk; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D055105:Waist Circumference; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers