The effect of fermented dairy intake and abdominal obesity in adults: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of cohort studies.

Abstract

Objectives: Diverse analysis has analyzed the potential efficacy of consuming foods created through the fermentation of dairy in mitigating abdominal obesity. The current meta-analysis aims to determine the impacts of consuming fermented dairy foods and the occurrence of abdominal obesity.

Methods: Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus databases were queried for records published before January 13, 2023, to investigate proportionate cohort studies. We employed a random-effects model to appraise the relative risk (RR); effect size was assessed through the 95% confidence interval (CI). Additionally, a one-stage dose-response analysis was executed, quality assessment was conducted through the ROBINS-E tool.

Results: Consequently, five publications, comprising 41,430 cases, were included as selected studies. The pooled effect shows an effect on the abdominal obesity risk; however, the effect was not significant. Subgroup analyses revealed a potential risk reduction effect in high- and low-fat and fermented dairy productions, although the findings were not statistically significant. Furthermore, the dose-response analysis indicated a linear decrease in risk with increasing consumption of high-fat fermented yogurt, with an HR of 0.84 (95% CI 0.71, 0.99) by 8 servings/week and an HR of 0.37 (95% CI 0.19, 0.71) by 21 servings/week.

Conclusion: These findings imply the potential effectiveness of fermented dairy products, particularly high-fat yogurt, in diminishing the obesity risk. However, further research addressing the limitations of previous studies is essential to confirm these results. Evidence-based medicine level: No level of evidence: Level of evidence III. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42023387538 ( http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO ).