How much milk should my child drink?
This is one of the most common questions pediatricians get asked. And according to Dr. Jonathon Maguire, a pediatrician and researcher at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, the honest answer is: doctors don't really know, but they are trying to find out.
The milk question is one of many that physicians and researchers are investigating as a part of an ongoing study called Target Kids!. Lead author, Maguire is presenting his research Thursday at the Canadian Pediatric Society's annual meeting in Quebec City.
St. Michael's Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children are collaborating to study factors which affect kids' health from the day they are born. The study currently has 3,800 children enrolled. Researchers are keen to determine how much milk kids aged one to five need in order to provide "enough vitamin D through fortification without compromising iron levels in a child's blood". (Studies have shown that too much cow's milk can lead to decreased iron stores.)
In a bid to combat childhood obesity, Los Angeles is the latest school district to stop serving flavoured milk as of July 1.
The schools were swayed to stop serving strawberry and chocolate-flavoured milks after popular British TV chef Jamie Oliver claimed the flavoured versions contain the "sugar equivalent of a candy bar".
However, many health advocates, including the American Heart Association, claim the nutritional benefits of flavoured milk outweigh the harm of added sugar. There is a fear that milk consumption will radically drop if flavoured versions are unavailable.
Vitamin D is a crucial component in the development of strong bones and teeth, yet too little iron in the bloodstream can "cause anemia, affect brain development and in cases of severe deficiency elevate the risk of stroke".
So in the end it's all about balancing the pros and cons of milk consumption. The magic number pediatricians have come up with is around "470 millilitres" which is roughly two cups.
In their study of almost 1,600 preschoolers, which included blood tests to determine each child's vitamin D and iron concentrations, the group found that age and body weight bore no correlation to the recommended amount of milk. But the type of cow's milk does.
"Partly skimmed milk (one percent and two percent) is not routinely recommended in the first two years," advises the Canadian Pediatric Society, and "skim milk is inappropriate in the first two years."
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, however, for children aged 12 to 24 months who are predisposed to obesity, or have abnormal blood-fat levels or cardiovascular disease, a reduced-fat milk would be appropriate.
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