Israeli study: Inadequate milk consumption affects kids' height
Dream of becoming a basketball player? New research indicates that children who avoid drinking milk will be about 4 centimeters shorter when they grow up than they would have been had they consumed dairy products regularly.
The study was conducted by Dr. Tali Sinai from the School of Nutritional Sciences at Hebrew University's Faculty of Agriculture together with Assaf Harofeh Medical Center.
The decision to focus on milk and dairy products as a factor which allegedly affects growth was made in light of results of global studies which showed that children with cow's milk allergy are at risk of not reaching their growth potential.
The research was conducted on some 100 subjects around the age of 20 - when a person has already reached his full growth potential. Some of them were allergic to milk and had therefore never consumed it, while the rest drank milk regularly.
According to Dr. Sinai, a clinical dietician, the research findings determined unequivocally that the subjects who never consumed milk were shorter than the ones who consumed the product. The study further found that those who did not drink milk were shorter than the general average in the population.
The study also examined the height of the parents of the subjects who have never drank milk and found that the parents, who have been drinking milk all their lives, are 4 centimeters taller than their children, on average. In other words, if their children had drank milk, they would be a few centimeters taller, according to the research.
"Some of these children are even 10 centimeters shorter than their parents," Dr. Sinai says. "These are clear statistical differences. It's not a coincidence.
"Milk is a source of energy, of high-quality biological protein, of vital fatty acids, of vitamins and of minerals, which are all concentrated in one type of food. Children who don’t consume milk must find a way to make up the nutritional deprivations in order to prevent growth problems."
It should be noted, however, that some experts and doctors believe that drinking milk is unhealthy and unnecessary.
