[Diabetes-talk] NPR News: Whole Milk Or Skim? Study Links Fattier Milk To Slimmer Kids

[Mike Freeman]

I put the article below on this site to demonstrate the fuzzy-think that
even medical authorities manifest when confronted with something that
doesn't fit their cherished ideas. Note the twin responses of the
pediatrician cited at the end of the article: (1) this *can't* be true and
(2) the kids were overweight to begin with. Well hello! Aren't these the
kids we're worried about? And note the inability of the "experts" to admit
that people may differ and that, for some, calorie intake may *not* be
totally predictive of energy use.

Mike Freeman


-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Mike Freeman
Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2013 7:02 AM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] NPR News: Whole Milk Or Skim? Study Links Fattier
Milk To Slimmer Kids

Whole Milk Or Skim? Study Links Fattier Milk To Slimmer Kids

by Allison Aubrey

March 20, 201312:27 PM

Parents are currently advised to switch toddlers to reduced-fat milk at age
2.

David M. Goehring/Via Flickr
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/2060372584/in/photostream/> 

Parents are currently advised to switch toddlers to reduced-fat milk at age
2.

The job of parenting toddlers ain't easy. Consider the 2-year-old to-do
list: Get tantrums under control. Potty train. Transition from whole milk to
low-fat milk.

Speaking from experience, only one of these things was easy.

As my daughter turned 2 in January, we made the simple switch to reduced-fat
milk. Done. Don't need to overthink this one, right?

After all, I'm following the evidence-based advice of the American Academy
of Pediatrics.

The guidance <http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/doi/10.1542/peds.2008-1349>  is
based on studies that found children who consumed low-fat milk as part of a
reduced-saturated-fat diet had lower concentrations of LDL cholesterol.
Given the body of evidence in adults linking high cholesterol to increased
risk of heart disease, it makes sense to keep an eye on cholesterol,
beginning in childhood.

And if you take fat out of milk, you've also reduced calories, which should
help protect kids against becoming overweight. At least, that's been the
assumption.

So here's where things gets confusing. A new study
<http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/13/archdischild-2012-302941.short?
g=w_adc_ahead_tab>  of preschool-aged children published in the Archives of
Disease in Childhood, a sister publication of the British Medical Journal,
finds that low-fat milk was associated with higher weight.

That's right, kids drinking low-fat milk tended to be heavier.

"We were quite surprised" by the findings, Dr. Mark DeBoer
<http://uvahealth.com/doctors/physicians/371>  told me in an email. He and
his co-author, Dr. Rebecca Scharf
<http://uvahealth.com/doctors/physicians/rebeca-scharf> , both of the
University of Virginia, had hypothesized just the opposite.

But they found the relationship between skim-milk drinkers and higher body
weights held up across all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups. DeBoer
says their data also show that low-fat milk did not restrain weight gain in
preschoolers over time.

The study included about 10,700 children in the United States. Parents were
interviewed about their child's beverage consumption on two occasions: once
when the children were 2 years old and again at 4 years. Direct measurements
of height and weight (to calculate body mass index) were taken by
researchers.

Interestingly, this is not the first study to point in this direction.

In a 2005 study
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Berkey+Milk%2C+dietary+calcium+and
+weight+gain> , researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital reported 
+weight+gain> that
skim and 1 percent milk were associated with weight gain among
9-to-14-year-olds.

And a 2010 study
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Huh+milk+adiposity>  by
researchers at Children's Hospital in Boston, which also looked at
preschool-aged children, found that higher intake of whole milk at age 2 was
associated with a slightly lower BMI (body mass index). The researchers
concluded that switching from whole milk to reduced-fat milk at 2 years did
not appear to prevent weight problems in early childhood.

When you look at these studies together, DeBoer's findings become more
intriguing, though it's unclear how higher fat could lead to lower weight.

One theory: It's possible that whole milk gives us a greater sense of
satiety.

"This is speculative," says DeBoer, but if you feel fuller after drinking
whole-fat milk, "it may be protective if the other food options are high in
calories." In other words, if whole-fat milk saves a kid from eating an
extra cookie or a second serving of mashed potatoes, he or she may end up
eating fewer calories overall.

As the authors acknowledge, one of the shortcomings of the new study is that
the researchers did not know how many calories the children were consuming
overall or what types of foods they were eating.

So is it time to think anew about switching toddlers to low-fat milk?

"I don't think there is harm in rethinking a recommendation, particularly if
there weren't rigorous data behind it," says DeBoer. He says he hopes his
results lead to further, more definitive studies.

But not everyone is convinced. "I do think that the recommendation to give
low-fat milk at age 2 is sound advice," says Dr. Stephen Daniels
<http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/medicalschool/departments/pediat
rics/people/bios/Pages/danielsbio.aspx> , a pediatrician at the University
of Colorado and member of the AAP's Committee on Nutrition.

"I don't think the link between low-fat milk and higher weight makes much
sense from a biological perspective," he says.

Some of the earliest studies evaluating diets low in saturated fat and
cholesterol did find a link to less obesity among girls. And Daniels points
out that in the new study, the toddlers who were on low-fat milk were
already heavier.

"This leaves open the real chance that parents may have been choosing
low-fat milk as a weight-management strategy for those who were already
overweight," Daniels says.

Parents, if this leaves you confused, one thing to keep in mind is that -
whether it's whole, 2 percent or skim - milk is probably not a major driver
when it comes to childhood weight problems. Many studies have shown that
sugar-sweetened beverages play a much bigger role
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/10/22/163260960/swapping-out-sugary-s
oda-for-diet-drinks-may-help-tip-the-scale-in-your-favor> 

 

_______________________________________________
Diabetes-talk mailing list
Diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Diabetes-talk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org/k7uij%40panix.com