Decades' worth of common knowledge dictates that milk is, at the very least, pretty good for most people. It goes great with cereal, mixes wonderfully with mashed potatoes, and is part of the reason ice cream is mankind's greatest culinary achievement. But there may be another reason to love milk. A new study has revealed a possible link between drinking more milk and losing more weight.

From a summary of the study:

"More than 300 overweight or at risk men and women ages 40 - 65 participated in the study following low-fat, Mediterranean or low-carb diets for 2 years. Regardless of diet, researchers found participants with the highest dairy calcium intake 6 months into the study (averaging about 580mg per day — the amount in nearly 2 glasses of milk) lost about 12 pounds at the end of the 2 years, compared to about 7 pounds for those with the lowest dairy calcium intake (averaging about 150mg, or about half of a glass)."

Vitamin D seems to play a pivotal role in the weight loss results. Participants with the highest levels of vitamin D were the most likely to see some weight loss success, and as a top source of the nutrient, milk was a common denominator in weight loss.

So, if you'd like to add some milk products to your diet, swap out whole milk or 2% for low-fat or nonfat (skim) milk to reap the biggest benefit. And according to a Penn State study, adults should focus on making sure their kids drink more milk, too. As a leading source of calcium, milk is critical for developing bones. However, researchers caution that children are consuming some dairy — just not the right kind.

"The researchers found that 43 to 51 percent of the dairy consumed by younger children was from whole-fat sources with only 5 to 11 percent from non-fat dairy. Older children consumed about 35 to 36 percent from whole-fat dairy and 11 to 13 percent from non-fat dairy sources...

"The Penn State researcher notes that these additional calories [in whole or full-fat dairy products] can add to the current problems of childhood obesity. The difference between whole-fat and reduced-fat mozzarella cheese is 20 calories per ounce with another 30 calories if the cheese is fat free." 

While milk and dairy products do offer many health benefits, including some apparent advantages for weight loss, be careful to choose the lower-fat versions.

"A glass of fat-free milk has 80 calories, while whole milk has 150 calories," says [Penn State nutritionist Sibylle] Kranz. "That is a difference per glass of 70 calories or 210 to 280 calories a day for individuals consuming three to four servings of dairy."

Drinking milk for weight loss? Sounds delicious.