Children Benefit from Drinking Flavored Milk

A new study released in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that children who drink flavored or plain milk consume more nutrients and have a lower or comparable body mass index than children who don’t drink milk.

The study compared nutrient intakes and BMIs among 7,557 U.S. children and adolescents ages 2 to 18 years drinking flavored milk (with or without plain milk), exclusively plain milk and no milk.

All comparisons were adjusted for the amount of calories reported as well as age allowing for differences to be examined based on equal consumption of calories and age distributions. Results showed milk drinkers (flavored and plain) had significantly higher intakes of vitamin A, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium than non-milk drinkers.

In addition, BMI measures of milk drinkers were comparable to or lower than measures of non-milk drinkers. Intake of added sugars did not differ between flavored milk drinkers and non-milk drinkers.

Among females 12 to 18 years of age, average calcium intakes by flavored milk drinkers and exclusively plain milk drinkers were nearly double the calcium intakes of non-milk drinkers.

“Intakes of added sugars were comparable between flavored milk drinkers and non-milk drinkers confirming that the inclusion of flavored milk in the diet does not lead to significantly higher added sugar intakes by children and adolescents,” noted Rachel Johnson, Ph.D., MPH, RD, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Professor of Nutrition at the University of Vermont, a co-author of the study.

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourages children to enjoy three age-appropriate servings of lowfat or fat-free milk, cheese or yogurt each day. Currently, less than half of children ages 2 to 8 and only about 25 percent of children ages 9 to 19 meet the recommended dairy food intake. Flavored milks can provide part of the solution for meeting these recommendations.

According to the Dietary Guidelines, small amounts of sugars added to nutrient-rich foods, such as lowfat and fat-free dairy products, may increase a person’s intake of such foods by enhancing the taste of these products, thus improving nutrient intake without contributing excessive calories.

MM Murphy, JS Douglass, RK Johnson, LA Spence. Drinking flavored or plain milk is positively associated with nutrient intake and is not associated with adverse effects on weight status in U.S. children and adolescent. J Am Diet Assoc. 2008;108:631-639.