According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children are coming up short when it comes to drinking low-fat milk.The Los Angeles Times “Booster Shots” blog reported the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics found that youngsters “may not be drinking enough of the lower-fat kind.”
Specifically, “32.4% said they drank whole milk, 45.4% chose 2% milk, and 20.2% went with low-fat” milk.
The report concluded, “The overall low consumption of low-fat milk suggests the majority of children and adolescents do not adhere to recommendations by Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010, and the American Academy of Pediatrics for all children aged two years and over to drink low-fat milk.”
Before 2008m, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that weaned babies be fed whole milk until they’re 2 years old.
Since 2008, the AAP recommends that after weaning kids should get reduced-fat 2% milk between 12 months and 2 years of age.
That was a big change.
Because dietary fats are important for early brain development, whole milk was considered essential for weaned babies up to age 2 years. But studies over the last decade have found that kids given reduced-fat milk developed normally.
After their second birthday, all kids should be switched to low-fat 1% milk, says the AAP.
You can read more about “The Pros and Cons of Milk and Dairy” here.