A new study suggests that preschoolers who drink low fat or skim milk are more prone to being overweight or obese.
Turns out low- or no-fat milk may not do a body good, especially growing kids' bodies. According to new research published in the British Medical Journal's Archives of Disease in Childhood, consumption of lower-fat or skim milk was associated with being overweight or obese in children. The open question is whether the kids would have been even more overweight had they been drinking full-fat milk.
Researchers at the University of Virgina School of Medicine examined the milk drinking habits of roughly 11,000 kids, as reported by their parents or guardians at age 2 and again at age 4, as part of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, which tracks physical and educational development of a selected group of American kids born in 2001. The kids were weighed at both age points. In addition, to assess sugar and fat intake in the 4-year-old group, the researchers tracked the quantity and frequency of their consumption of the different varieties of milk — skim, semi-skim or 1 percent, 2 percent, full fat, or soy — as well as fruit juices and sports and fizzy drinks.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association recommend that children over 2 years of age drink low-fat or skim milk to reduce dietary saturated fat and control weight. But the study results call into question the value of these recommendations when it comes to preschoolers' weight:
* 1 in 3 of the kids were overweight or obese at ages 2 and 4
* Overweight or obese kids drank more skim or semi-skim milk
* Children who drank 2-percent or full-fat milk, on average, weighed less
* Kids who were neither overweight nor obese and who regularly drank skim or semi-skim milk were 57 percent more likely to become overweight or obese by age 4
Longer-term tracking of childhood weight gain patterns revealed no difference between lower-fat and full-fat milk drinkers, which may sound like a reason to be suspicious of health claims made for lower fat milk. But researchers suspect that overweight kids may have gained even more weight if they had not been drinking lower-fat milk from the beginning, and that their consumption of lower-fat milk may have been in response to parental concern regarding their weight gain.
In a release on the study, the researchers said that "perhaps the reality is more complex. Milk fat may increase a feeling of fullness so reduce the appetite for other fatty/calorie dense foods."
They advocate alternative methods of childhood weight control, including getting more exercise, eating more fruits and vegetables, watching less television and drinking fewer sugary beverages.
Despite the findings, there are many proven health benefits of milk, from reducing heart disease and stroke risk to promoting bone and tooth growth and strength.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Reports in 2012 found that about 30 percent of children and adolescents age 2 to 19 were obese or overweight.
source: everydayhealth
Turns out low- or no-fat milk may not do a body good, especially growing kids' bodies. According to new research published in the British Medical Journal's Archives of Disease in Childhood, consumption of lower-fat or skim milk was associated with being overweight or obese in children. The open question is whether the kids would have been even more overweight had they been drinking full-fat milk.
Researchers at the University of Virgina School of Medicine examined the milk drinking habits of roughly 11,000 kids, as reported by their parents or guardians at age 2 and again at age 4, as part of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, which tracks physical and educational development of a selected group of American kids born in 2001. The kids were weighed at both age points. In addition, to assess sugar and fat intake in the 4-year-old group, the researchers tracked the quantity and frequency of their consumption of the different varieties of milk — skim, semi-skim or 1 percent, 2 percent, full fat, or soy — as well as fruit juices and sports and fizzy drinks.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association recommend that children over 2 years of age drink low-fat or skim milk to reduce dietary saturated fat and control weight. But the study results call into question the value of these recommendations when it comes to preschoolers' weight:
* 1 in 3 of the kids were overweight or obese at ages 2 and 4
* Overweight or obese kids drank more skim or semi-skim milk
* Children who drank 2-percent or full-fat milk, on average, weighed less
* Kids who were neither overweight nor obese and who regularly drank skim or semi-skim milk were 57 percent more likely to become overweight or obese by age 4
Longer-term tracking of childhood weight gain patterns revealed no difference between lower-fat and full-fat milk drinkers, which may sound like a reason to be suspicious of health claims made for lower fat milk. But researchers suspect that overweight kids may have gained even more weight if they had not been drinking lower-fat milk from the beginning, and that their consumption of lower-fat milk may have been in response to parental concern regarding their weight gain.
In a release on the study, the researchers said that "perhaps the reality is more complex. Milk fat may increase a feeling of fullness so reduce the appetite for other fatty/calorie dense foods."
They advocate alternative methods of childhood weight control, including getting more exercise, eating more fruits and vegetables, watching less television and drinking fewer sugary beverages.
Despite the findings, there are many proven health benefits of milk, from reducing heart disease and stroke risk to promoting bone and tooth growth and strength.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Reports in 2012 found that about 30 percent of children and adolescents age 2 to 19 were obese or overweight.
source: everydayhealth
