Childhood obesity and nutrition

Childhood Obesity

“If a child has a weight problem, their first beverage choice should be water.”

That quote comes from Helaine Rockett, a nutritionist and researcher with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University. And you couldn’t be blamed if you jumped to the conclusion that Ms. Rockett offered this quote in reference to the dietary effects of colas, un-colas, teas, lemonades and other sugar-added, high-calorie soft drinks that many kids drink nonstop.

In fact, Ms. Rockett was commenting on the results of a study she and her colleagues recently published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. According to their findings, teenagers who drink more than three glasses of milk each day are prone to gain weight.

In 2003 the National Dairy Council launched a multi-year, $200 million advertising campaign to promote milk as a weight-loss aid.

D’oh!

The researchers examined dietary and medical data on nearly 13,000 adolescents and teens over a four-year period. Contrary to their hypotheses, an intake of skim milk and one-percent milk was associated with weight gain. Dairy fat intake, however, was NOT linked with weight gain.

In addition, dietary calcium from milk apparently did not contribute to weight reduction. But how could that be? As we’ve seen in previous e-Alerts, adequate calcium intake can actually help reduce weight. The catch is that homogenization impedes calcium absorption. What’s more, proper absorption of calcium requires magnesium, but the magnesium content of milk is zero.

So much for all that wonderful calcium that milk promises. Not to mention a few of the mainstream’s favorite sacred cows.