University of Manitoba Seeks Participants for Dairy Study
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The Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals at the University of Manitoba has announced that it is looking for volunteers to participate in a dairy health study. The volunteers should be interested in losing weight and improving their health.
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The study is being carried out in collaboration with the University of South Australia’s Australian Nutritional Physiology Research Centre. The groups will be conducting nutritional trials that will aim to determine the effectiveness of consuming low-fat dairy products in order to improve key health factors like body weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and metabolic rate.
According to the Richardson Centre’s research and development manager, Dr. Curtis Rempel, both males and females, between the ages of 18 and 75, are encouraged to apply. Participants should be in good health but have an interest in making changes to their lifestyle, along with losing some weight.
“The trial itself is designed to be a year long,” says Rempel. “If you’re a study subject you’re going to be at it for about a year which is kind of a good time frame in terms of actually making some lifestyle changes that stick with you then. You’ll be coming in, you’ll be picking up your dairy products from us say once a month. You can store them in your fridge etcetera, or biweekly if that’s most convenient. When you come in, a study subject is coming in, basically you’re going to weigh in. We’ll be keeping track of weight and we’ll be doing some blood work.”
The researchers will look at participants’ cholesterol levels as well as other blood lipids like blood sugar and insulin. Some simple, non-invasive tests will be run to test how well the participants’ arteries perform and to analyze factors like metabolic rate (i.e. metabolism) as well as body fat composition.
The information collected will be evaluated after the one-year trial period. Researchers will then tabulate and compile the information before it gets published and sent out to health agencies and other interested parties.
Rempel emphasizes that the point of the study is look at the effect of small dietary changes to see if they can lead to significant health changes.
