Effect of Milk or Milk Derived Food Supplementation on Body Composition of Young Indian Women

Background: Lysine intake in India is low mainly due to consumption of cereals as staple diet and processing loss of lysine. The present study was aimed to assess the impact of supplementation either in the form of dietary supplements of lysine, calcium and vitamin D in order to identify an appropriate approach for the improvement of body composition. Methods: One hundred and twenty volunteer subjects in the age group of 20-30 years residing in Punjab Agricultural University hostels were selected for supplementary trial. Supplementation of milk and its products in amounts to fill the gap of dietary intake and adequacy of protein as well as limiting amino acid lysine in their diets for a period of 12 weeks was done to determine its effect on body composition. Result: The diets were also poor in protein quality as the limiting amino acid lysine was only 55% of the recommended level. Supplementation of milk and its products resulted in a significant reduction in body fat (6.62%) and visceral fat rating (9.47%) and a significant increase in skeletal muscle mass (3.98%) and bone mass (2.72%). The study recommends that improving the quality of diets through dietary supplementation of lysine, calcium and vitamin D is an effective approach to achieve optimum body composition.