Casein Benefits Body Weight

MAASTRICHT, Netherlands—According to a newly published study, a diet with 25 percent energy from casein boosted energy expenditure, protein balance, satiety and negative fat balance, which is beneficial to body weight management (Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89:831-38). During a 36-hour stay in a respiration chamber, 24 healthy subjects received isoenergetic diets according to subject-specific energy requirements: a diet with 25-percent of its energy from casein (25 percent, 20 percent and 55 percent of energy as protein, fat and carbohydrate, respectively) and a diet with 10 percent of its energy from casein (10 percent, 35 percent and 55 percent of energy as protein, fat and carbohydrate, respectively) in a randomized crossover design. Three days before the diets began, the subjects consumed a similar diet at home. The 25-percent diet resulted in a 2.6-percent higher 24-hour total energy expenditure (P<0.01) and a higher sleeping metabolic rate (P<0.001) than the 10-percent diet. Subjects in the 25-percent diet, compared with the 10-percent diet, were in positive protein balance and negative fat balance, whereas positive carbohydrate balances were not significantly different between diets. Satiety was 33 percent higher with the 25-percent diet than with the 10-percent diet (P<0.05).