The incidence of obesity has rapidly increased in recent years and reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Recent epidemiological data has shown an inverse relationship between calcium intake and body fat and emerging research suggests that inadequate dietary calcium consumption may increase obesity. Studies in mice have shown that an increase in dietary calcium consumption creates a shift in the utilization of energy stores from carbohydrates to fat and a shift in the partitioning of energy from storage (as fat) to expenditure (as heat).