The dairy industry is touting studies that suggest including three daily servings of low-fat milk, yogurt or cheese in your diet may not only help you lose weight but also help you target and burn belly fat, which has been shown to increase the risk for diabetes and heart disease.

WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh put the "milk diet" to the test by recruiting three station employees to drink 24 ounces of milk daily. Melissa Seegert said she has tried just about any fad diet that comes in a pill. She's also tried the Atkins diet and the South Beach diet.

Heather Emmons, who already exercises and tries to eat right, wanted to lose a few extra pounds for an upcoming wedding.

Jason Minor weighed in at 260 pounds with a 48-inch waist. Minor tried the 1,600-calorie meal plan provided in the diet and added three glasses of low-fat chocolate milk.

Seegert went on a 1,500-calorie plan and started walking and working out, adding three glasses of skim milk per day.

Emmons kept her routine the same but added 16 ounces of skim milk for breakfast and eight ounces at night. After four weeks, our volunteers weighed in. Minor had lost five pounds and an inch around his waist. He said he noticed a big difference in how he was looking. "I think the milk did make a difference, because even when I cheated, my waistline started going down," Minor said.

Seegert also lost five pounds and 2 inches at the waist. She said she was surprised because she doesn't do sit-ups or anything like that.

Emmons was also down five pounds, losing 2 inches around both her abdomen and waist. She said she could tell through the four weeks that she felt better.

Would calcium supplements work? No, said Lesli Bonci, a nutritionist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dairy products have three key ingredients. "It is the calcium, the protein and conjugated linoleic acid that happen to be present in dairy foods," Bonci said. "It seems all of these things working together in synergy impact on the body's ability to lose weight."

If you plan to try the milk diet, experts said what you don't want to do is just add the extra milk calories on top of what you're already eating.

Substitute instead. For instance, replace a glass of morning juice with milk. Don't have both.

According to Bonci, the milk diet kills two birds with one stone. Bonci said the diet optimizes bone health and, at the same time, it might be minimizing the middle.

Another benefit: Milk tends to fill you up so you don't feel as hungry.

Of course, this diet would not be for people who are allergic or have intolerance to dairy products.

Source: Diabetes In Control.com.