Children Benefit from Drinking Flavored Milk

A recent study found that children who drink flavored or plain milk consume more nutrients and have a lower or comparable body mass index (BMI – a measure of body fatness) than children who don’t drink milk.1

The study compared nutrient intakes and BMIs of 7,557 U.S. children and adolescents ages 2 to18 years drinking flavored milk (with or without plain milk), exclusively plain milk and no milk. Results showed:

  • Milk drinkers (flavored and plain) had significantly higher intakes of vitamin A, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium than did non-milk drinkers.
  • BMI measures of milk drinkers were similar to or lower than those 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.

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.2 Currently, less than half of children ages 2 to 8 and only about one-quarter of children ages 9 to 19 meet the recommended dairy food intake.3 Flavored milk can provide part of the solution for meeting these recommendations.

1MM 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

2U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005. 6th  Edition, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, January 2005.

3National Dairy Council, unpublished data based on the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES), 1999-2002.