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Young children who drink whole cow?s milk tend to be leaner and have higher vitamin D levels than those who consume low-fat or skim milk, researchers say.
In a study of more than 2,700 children aged one to six, Toronto researchers found that those who drank whole milk had a body mass index score almost a full unit lower than kids who drank one percent or two percent milk.
That?s comparable to the difference between having a healthy weight and being overweight, said Dr. Jonathon Maguire, a pediatrician at St. Michael?s Hospital who led the study.
Kids who consumed whole-fat milk were roughly three times less likely to be overweight or obese and two times less likely to have a vitamin D deficiency compared with children who were given one percent milk, he said. Health Canada, the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that children under two consume only whole milk, but parents are advised to switch to low-fat milk after a child turns two to reduce their risk of obesity. Yet children who drink lower-fat milk don?t necessarily have less body fat and they also don?t benefit from higher vitamin D levels they would get with whole milk, the study found.
?So it?s a double-negative with low-fat milk,? Maguire said.
While the study design doesn?t allow a direct cause-and-effect relationship between a child?s weight status and the type of milk consumed, Maguire speculated that children who down a glass of whole milk may f...