Prospective association between milk intake and adiposity in preschool-aged children

Dairy Science in the literature

J Am Diet Assoc. 2010 Apr;110(4):563-70

Prospective association between milk intake and adiposity in preschool-aged children

This study on over 800 preschool-aged children finds that not only is milk consumption not related to obesity, but whole dairy (and not reduced-fat diary) was associated with a slightly lower BMI z score.

The take away message from this any a large number of related studies is that people who avoid dairy because they think it is related to overweight are mistaken.

Overall calorie intake needs to be kept in check, but excluding dairy would only reduce important nutrient intake.
Dairy as a weight loss strategy is something less clear. It is unlikely to be very effective without other measures.