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For Some Kids, Milk Can be Too Much of a Good Thing
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 The results of the study appear in the June issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
After compensating for physical activity, maturation and height growth, the researchers found that those boys and girls who drank more than three servings of milk a day were 25 percent more likely to become overweight than those who drank two to three servings a day. Twenty-three percent of the boys and 15 percent of the girls drank more than three servings per day.
Berkey said the teens in the study drank more milk than children in the general population, perhaps because they're children of nurses who might be more aware of nutrition and diet. Most children, according to Segrave-Daly, drink less than one glass of milk a day.
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Berkey said the weight gain appeared to result from the calories in the milk rather than something particular to the milk itself. She also acknowledged that the study did not rule out the chance that the calories could have come from other sources.
Surprisingly, almost all the children in the study drank low-fat milk rather than whole milk, and the authors believe that estrone and whey protein in dairy products may cause weight gain.
Rachel Novotny, head of the Department of Human Nutrition Food and Animal Sciences at the University of Hawaii, said this latter finding was the most interesting part of the study.
"The bottom line is still the calories, but the question is whether calories from different sources are healthier -- and this study doesn't change thinking about that," she said. "But the marginal finding that skim or low-fat milk or whole milk, at the same level of calorie intake, is the source of weight gain is an interesting hypothesis, and deserves further study."
More information
The National Institutes of Health (www.nih.gov ) has more on teaching children healthier eating habits. Page: << Prev | 1 | 2
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Copyright © 2005 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 6/7/2005
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SOURCES: Catherine S. Berkey, Sc.D., biostatistician, Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston; Deanna Segrave-Daly, registered dietician, National Dairy Council, Rosemont, Ill.; Rachel Novotny, Ph.D., professor and head, Department of Human Nutrition Food and Animal Sciences, University of Hawaii, Honolulu; June 2005 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
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