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Meta-Analysis
. 2025 Mar 7;30(1):23.
doi: 10.1007/s40519-025-01733-4.

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

Fatemeh Sadat Hashemi Javaheri  1   2 , Milad Nasiri Jounaghani  3 , Amirhossein Sahebkar  4   5   6 , Mostafa Norouzzadeh  7   8 , Pedram Delgarm  7 , Hossein Shahinfar  7   8 , Artemiss Mirdar Harijani  7
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

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

Fatemeh Sadat Hashemi Javaheri et al. Eat Weight Disord. .

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 ).

Keywords: Dose–response; Fermented dairy; Fermented foods; Meta-analysis; Obesity; Yogurt.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram illustrating the literature search and study selection process. A total of 5,719 records were identified from database searches. After removing duplicates, 5,628 studies were excluded based on title or abstract. 91 articles were screened for full-text eligibility, and after a detailed evaluation, 5 studies were included in the final analysis. The figure outlines the number of records at each stage of the process, including reasons for exclusions at the full-text screening phase
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot showing the association between fermented dairy product consumption and the risk of abdominal obesity. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) for the association was 0.96 (95% CI 0.83, 1.11), indicating a non-significant reduction in risk. Individual study HRs ranged from 0.74 to 1.29. Heterogeneity across studies was high (I2 = 81.2%). The plot displays the effect size for each study, along with the 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and highlights the overall pooled estimate
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Non-linear and linear dose–response relationships between high-fat yogurt consumption and the risk of abdominal obesity (Pdose-response: 0.002, Pnon-linear: 0.02). The plot illustrates both the non-linear and linear associations, with a significant dose–response effect (P < 0.002 for the overall relationship, P < 0.02 for the non-linear component). The risk of abdominal obesity decreased significantly with increasing consumption, showing a 63% reduction in risk at 21 servings per week (HR: 0.37, 95% CI 0.19, 0.71). The figure distinguishes between the linear and non-linear components of the relationship, highlighting the dose-dependent risk reduction
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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