Weighing the benefits of milk consumption: Is it good for kids?

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Should your kids potable milk? There are many benefits of milk consumption.

• For families that rarely or never eat meat, milk and milk products may correspond important sources of protein
• Milk can heave calcium and vitamin D levels–both crucial for evolution and for the prevention of disease
• Milk stimulates growth
• Milk may also boost cerebral performance–either because it improves general nutrition or because it specifically promotes brain growth

But milk isn't perfect.

If, like virtually of the world'due south population, you are lactose intolerant, yous demand to avert consuming cow's milk products that are uncooked or unfermented.

More universally, all people, regardless of their capacities to digest milk sugar, have reason to restrict their intake of milk and milk products because:

• cow's milk is Not recommended for babies under 12 months (Cribb et al 2011);
• some milk products are high in saturated fatty, and saturated fats should be restricted for kids over 24 months;
• some kids might suffer from cow's milk poly peptide intolerance, which causes gastric distress and other issues;
• milk and milk products can inhibit opens in a new windowfe absorption; and
• some researchers speculate that early on exposure to cow's milk might put kids at increased take a chance for sure diseases–like diabetes–afterward in life.

Practise these potential costs outweigh the benefits?

I doubt it. Not if we're talking about 1 or 2 daily servings of low-fat yogurt or milk for a child who is at low risk for developing diabetes.

Just don't take my word for it. Here is an overview of the scientific prove for–and confronting–the consumption of moo-cow'southward milk.

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Dairying in anthropological perspective

For thousands of years, milk has been an important source of poly peptide, fatty, and calcium for many people…and non just for people in Europe, Bharat, and the Middle E.

From the steppes of Mongolia to the highlands of East Africa and Peru–wherever, in fact, humans have herded cattle, goats, horses, camels, or llamas–humans have added milk products to their diets.

Indeed, the benefits of milk and dairy farming may have given some populations a big evolutionary advantage. Recent genetic analyses suggest that the hunter-gatherers of Neolithic Europe were replaced past dairy farming newcomers around 8,000 years ago (Malmström et al 2009; Bramanti et al 2009).

But traditions—even apparently adaptive traditions—don't ever reverberate what is ideal for an individual'southward long-term health and well-being.

Skeletal analyses of early farmers are case in bespeak. Compared with hunter-gatherers, these farmers were malnourished. If milk helped early on farmers supplant hunter-gatherers, it may have done so because it immune parents to wean their kids from human being milk relatively early–i.e., earlier the historic period of three years. This would have increased the nativity charge per unit, only the new agricultural nutrition didn't necessarily improve anyone's quality of life.

More by and large, we have to remember that diets—traditional or otherwise– are ever constrained by what'south bachelor. In the civilizations of the aboriginal Mediterranean, people drank wine or beer instead of water. A good thought? Non if you lot have condom, clean water to drink. But they didn't. So the benefits of drinking alcohol outweighed the potential risks.

Where does that get out milk? Research suggests that milk consumption may benefit many children. Simply milk consumption may have costs, besides. Whether or not milk is a expert choice depends on how you weigh these costs and benefits. It also depends on what other dietary options y'all have.

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Benefits of milk consumption

Fortified milk and milk products are of import dietary sources of calcium, vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin B12, and other micronutrients. In fact, studies propose that milk consumption can play a crucial role in maintaining calcium levels and vitamin D stores (e.thousand., Maguire et al 2012; Vissers et al 2011), and these nutritional benefits may take major health consequences.

Recent research suggests that vitamin D insufficiency is a hazard factor for a variety of diseases, including heart affliction, diabetes, cancer, and multiple sclerosis (Holick et al 2005). If then, vitamin D-fortified milk may help children avoid developing such diseases.

Similarly, milk consumption–past increasing calcium intake–may protect people from developing hypertension, kidney stones, insulin resistance syndrome, obesity, cancer, and even lead poisoning (Nicklas 2003).

And of course the poly peptide and calcium in cow's milk may contribute to better overall diet and bone health. As summarized by Janet Rich-Edwards and colleagues (2007), studies show that children who swallow cow'southward milk products have

• reduced risk of protein malnutrition,
• fewer dental cavities,
• increased mineral content in their bones and fewer bone fractures, and
• reduce risk of developing rickets

Much of the research concerns correlations, but there is experimental evidence, likewise. For example, one randomized, controlled study gave Chinese school girls 330 mL of cow's milk per day. After two years, these girls enjoyed small but statistically significant increases in bone mineral content and os density compared with girls in a command group (Du et al 2004).

More skilful basic and teeth

The benefits of milk consumption for bones and teeth may not seem surprising. But there are less well-known benefits In that location is as well evidence that milk consumption–by increasing calcium intake–protects people from a variety of dangerous medical weather condition, including hypertension, colon cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, kidney stones, insulin resistance syndrome, obesity, and lead poisoning (see Nicklas 2003 for a review with full references).

Growth: One of the benefits of milk consumption?

Milk consumption appears to promote growth, too.

For example, in the Chinese study mentioned above, the milk-supplemented girls were taller than controls. And many other studies accept documented a correlation between moo-cow'south milk consumption and height in children (Hoppe et al 2006).

This is true in developing countries—where adding milk to the diet helps eliminate nutritional deficiencies. But it's also true in places where basic nutrition is already pretty good.

For case, a U.S. study plant that preschool children who were in the top 25% for milk consumption were about a centimeter taller than their peers (Wiley 2009). Another U.South. study institute that milk consumption was linked with taller teenagers, fifty-fifty after decision-making for age, sex, household income, and ethnicity (Wiley 2005).

How does cow'due south milk promote growth?

Possibly, milk drinkers grow more because they are getting more than protein. Just at that place might be more than going on. Moo-cow'south milk is a natural source of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-similar growth cistron. So some researchers suspect that milk consumption promotes growth by increasing circulating levels of GH and IGF-I.

In back up of this thought, some surveys have documented a link between greater milk consumption and higher levels of GH and IGF-I.

And at that place's experimental evidence, too. In i study, researchers gave urban Mongolian school children supplements of whole milk and tracked their serum levels of GH and IGF-I. After a month of milk drinking, the kids experienced marked increases in GH and IGF-I levels (Rich-Edwards 2007). Similar results have been reported in Cathay (Zhu et al 2005) and Britain (Cadogan et al 1997).

Milk and intelligence?

In improver to better bones and taller kids, milk may also be associated with smarter kids.

For instance, when 7-and 8-twelvemonth-old kids from rural Vietnam were given milk supplements, they scored ameliorate on short term retentiveness tests than did kids in a control group (Lien do et al 2009).

This might reflect an overall improvement in diet. Merely there is as well the possibility that milk enhances intelligence via growth factors. According to this idea, growth factors in milk boost brain development equally well as linear body growth.

Intriguing? Yeah. Just the prove isn't notwithstanding there. One report found a link between IQ scores and circulating IGF-I levels in 8- and 9-twelvemonth olds. However, the study didn't measure milk consumption, and the IQ effect was not statistically pregnant after other variables—like maternal education—were taken into account (Gunnell et al 2005).

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The potential costs of milk consumption

At that place are several potential costs of drinking milk. Some seem pretty clear-cut. Others are controversial.

Cow'south milk is NOT good for babies nether 12 months

Cow'south milk differs from human chest milk in several of import ways. For example, cow'south milk has more poly peptide, sodium, and potassium than is healthful for human babies. And it lacks certain essential fatty acids that human babies need for optimal development.

Moreover, some infants can't digest cow's milk protein very well, and it makes them ill.

So giving moo-cow's milk to babies is not a good thought. It can cause malnourishment and disease. For these reasons, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does non recommend cow'southward milk—even whole moo-cow's milk—for babies under 12 months.

Some kids take lactose intolerance and/or moo-cow'due south milk poly peptide intolerance

Both lactose intolerance and cow's milk protein intolerance are associated with symptoms of gastrointestinal distress. But they have dissimilar implications. People who suffer from lactose intolerance need non avoid all milk products. Fermented milk products, like yogurt and cheese, are usually adequate. By dissimilarity, people who endure from moo-cow's milk protein intolerance need to avoid most milk products.

Milk is an fe absorption inhibitor

Experiments demonstrate that the high calcium content of milk can interfere with a kid's absorption of fe, another mineral that is crucial for development. To ensure your child isn't iron deficient, it's a good idea to avoid serving milk products and iron-rich foods in the same meal. It may also be a good idea to limit total milk intake in young children to two cups per 24-hour interval (Maguire et al 2013). For the details, see this article on opens in a new windowatomic number 26-rich foods.

Kids should limit their intake of saturated fat

Many milk products are loftier in saturated fats. Is this a problem? It depends on your kid's age.

Human breast milk is loftier in saturated fats (Giovannini et al 1994), and babies need relatively high levels of fatty in their diets for proper brain development. So if you want to requite an older baby moo-cow's milk, the American University of Pediatricians (AAP) recommends that you give him whole milk—non skim milk or reduced-fat milk.

For kids over 24 months, these AAP recommends that no more x% of daily calories should come from saturated fats.

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Speculation: Does IGF-1 have a dark side?

Here's the controversial role. Recollect IGF-1, the insulin-similar growth factor mentioned above? It stimulates growth. But it besides stimulates the production of insulin. Studies show that people who consume milk protein experience a mail-meal fasten in insulin levels.

This has raised the business organisation that early milk consumption could "program" the trunk produce chronically elevated levels of IGF-ane, which might contribute to development of diseases associated with higher insulin levels—diseases including diabetes, developed middle illness, and cancer (Melnik 2009).

Merely does inquiry to support the idea? And so far, the show isn't very compelling. In fact, some studies suggest that milk consumption may be more likely to protect kids from affliction.

For instance, a study of Lithuanian children has reported that babies given cow's milk-based formula in the first 3 months were more likely than others to get diabetic (Skrodeniene et al 2008). But this written report didn't randomly assign babies to receive cow's milk formula, so it's possible that babies receiving cow's milk were more than likely to have other risk factors for diabetes.

When Finnish researchers conducted a randomized report, they did not find that moo-cow's milk consumption increased diabetes risk (Savilahti and Saarinen 2009). In fact, there was a trend in the other direction: Babies who were given moo-cow's milk-based formula were really less likely to develop diabetes.

Similarly, a nationwide study of German language preschoolers found that preschoolers who drank more than cow's milk were less likely, not more likely, to develop diabetes (Rosenbauer et al 2007).

Enquiry on adults has reported like results. In studies that have controlled for overall diet, body mass index, and physical activity level, adults who consumed more than low-fat milk products were less likely, not more likely, to develop insulin dependence or diabetes (Choi et al 2005; Tremblay and Gilbert 2009; German et al 2009).

Every bit for other diseases, studies of adults suggest low-fat milk products might reduce the risk of high claret pressure level. (Wang et al 2008; Appel et al 1997). Increased adult milk consumption may be linked with college rates of nonaggressive colon cancer (Ahn et al 2007). But studies have failed to find a consistent link between adult milk consumption and breast cancer (Pala et al 2009).

Why the mixed results?

I don't know. But there are several things that might make it difficult to tease autonomously the effects of milk consumption on health.

Kickoff, studies suggest that people suffering from vitamin D deficiency are at higher adventure for diabetes (eastward.thousand., Huang et al 2012). And other ingredients in milk–like calcium–are known to protect people from developing diabetes and heart disease. So even if IGF-1 has a negative effect, the cyberspace effect of milk consumption may non exist negative.

Second, information technology's possible that our genes are involved. Cow'southward milk consumption may more likely to trigger diabetes in kids who are already genetically predisposed to develop diabetes. This idea is consistent with the results of a Finnish study (Virtanen et al 2000). If genetics play a role, then studies might written report dissimilar outcomes depending on the genetic backgrounds of people existence tested.

Third, the effects of milk may depend on which cows made the milk. Researchers from Republic of iceland analyzed the milk produced by cows from unlike Scandinavian countries (Thorsdottir et al 2000). Compared with cow's milk from other countries, Icelandic moo-cow's milk had the lowest levels of beta casein A1 and B (proteins thought to trigger diabetes) and the highest levels of immunoglobulin (a protective antibody). This might explicate why Type ane diabetes less common in Iceland.

The bottom line?

When it comes to insulin-related diseases, milk may take both healthful and negative effects. More research is needed.

Meanwhile, parents with kids at high take chances for diabetes should talk to their doctors about the effects of milk consumption.

But doesn't milk make you fat?

I've heard this claim from Hollywood celebrities, but it'due south non well-supported past research. Well-nigh studies, including a recent observational written report tracking the development of kids in Hong Kong, have reported no links between milk consumption and excess body fat (Lin et al 2012).

What most homogenization?

Commercial milk is homogenized, and some people speculate that the procedure might have harmful effects. The idea is that homogenization–which reduces the size of fat droplets in milk–might put consumers at greater gamble of heart disease or diabetes. Unfortunately more research is needed to evaluate this hypothesis (Michalski et al 2007).

…and what nigh raw milk?

Pasteurized milk is milk that has been heated to kill may disease-causing bacteria. "Raw milk" refers to milk that has not been pasteurized.

Although some people have claimed that raw milk offers special health benefits, there is, equally yet, little scientific evidence to support this claim. And the fact remains that raw milk is much more likely than pasteurized milk to be contaminated with dangerous pathogens (Lejeune JT and Rajala-Schultz 2009).

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References: The costs and benefits of milk consumption

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