[Overweight and obesity]

Obesity represents nowadays a significant health problem, leading to multiple efforts in order to identify its causal factors and the prophylactic and therapeutic approaches for its attention. Dairy intake is among the dietary factors that have been studied, and they frequently, but not consistently nor conclusively, have shown to be protective factors for the development of overweight, obesity and their comorbidities. Current literature addresses the reason underlying the association between dairy intake and obesity from two explanatory lines: the contribution of these products to total energy intake and the influence of some of their nutritional components -mainly calcium, protein and fat- on the underlying processes for the development of this condition. The objective of this article is to review the current knowledge on these topics.