HEALTH ALERT: DRINKING MILK WHILE PREGNANT MAKES FOR TALLER OFFSPRING

DRINKING MILK WHILE PREGNANT MAKES FOR TALLER OFFSPRING

Published September 6, 2013 in Food Product Design

Posted in News, Science & Research, Dairy, Dairy Ingredients, Milk, Demographic, Children, Nutrition,Functional Foods, Healthy, Healthy Foods

Reykjavik, Iceland—Women who drink milk while pregnant may have taller kids in the long-run, according to a recent study.

The study recruited 809 Danish pregnant women between 1988 and 1989 and followed up on the offspring at 20 years of age.

Milk consumption was assessed at gestational week 30 using a food frequency questionnaire. Birth weight and length were measured according to standard procedures at delivery and converted to specific z-scores, adjusted for gestational age and gender.

The results showed that in adjusted models, maternal milk consumption of more than 150 ml per day versus less than 150 ml per day was associated with 0.32 higher z-scores for birth weight and 0.34 higher scores for birth length. Twenty years later, the mothers who consumed the larger quantity of milk tended to have 0.19 higher z-scores for height, ~8% higher levels of insulin-like growth factor and ~14% higher insulin levels  compared with offspring whose mothers consumed less than 150 ml mil a day.

Sources:

• European Journal of Clinical Nutrition: Maternal milk consumption, birth size and adult height of offspring: a prospective cohort study with 20 years of follow-up