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One of the questions most frequently asked parents to their personal physician is 'how much milk should I give to my kids?'. The answer can vary, depending on the knowledge and experience of the doctor. But recently a new study to ensure that the best answer is two cups of milk per day.
"We started wondering the same thing because many professionals are recommending milk but the amount is not clear. Not only the parents, the doctors were racing figure it out," said lead researcher Dr. Jonathon Maguire, a pediatrician from St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada.
To that end, Dr. Maguire and his team looked at how the cow's milk affects the storage of iron and vitamin D, the two most important nutrients contained in milk, the body of 1300 children aged 2-5 years. From there, researchers found that children who drank more milk cows has higher levels of vitamin D but lower levels of iron-rich.
These children were recruited between the years 2008-2010. Her parents were also asked to fill out questionnaires about their children drinking milk and other factors that may affect the stock of iron and vitamin D in children. Researchers also took blood samples from each child to determine the levels of iron and vitamin D stored in the body of every child.
"We saw that two cups of milk per day was sufficient to maintain vitamin D levels in children, including maintaining stocks of iron in the body. Indeed if intake of dairy cows plus, there is the possibility of iron stocks will decrease but the benefits of vitamin D also not available, "explained Dr. Maguire is quoted from Indiavision, Wednesday (12/19/2012).
But the researchers also suggest alternatives to increase levels of vitamin D children in addition to drinking milk that taking supplements of vitamin D, especially in winter. This method also proved to be able to maintain stocks of iron in the body of the child.
"In fact, vitamin D deficiency in children has long been associated with impaired bone health while causing iron deficiency anemia and cognitive developmental delays," said Dr. Maguire.
Even so, the Canadian Paediatric Society recommends that cow's milk should not be given before the child reaches the age of one year.
The study has been published in the journal Pediatrics.
"We started wondering the same thing because many professionals are recommending milk but the amount is not clear. Not only the parents, the doctors were racing figure it out," said lead researcher Dr. Jonathon Maguire, a pediatrician from St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada.
To that end, Dr. Maguire and his team looked at how the cow's milk affects the storage of iron and vitamin D, the two most important nutrients contained in milk, the body of 1300 children aged 2-5 years. From there, researchers found that children who drank more milk cows has higher levels of vitamin D but lower levels of iron-rich.
These children were recruited between the years 2008-2010. Her parents were also asked to fill out questionnaires about their children drinking milk and other factors that may affect the stock of iron and vitamin D in children. Researchers also took blood samples from each child to determine the levels of iron and vitamin D stored in the body of every child.
"We saw that two cups of milk per day was sufficient to maintain vitamin D levels in children, including maintaining stocks of iron in the body. Indeed if intake of dairy cows plus, there is the possibility of iron stocks will decrease but the benefits of vitamin D also not available, "explained Dr. Maguire is quoted from Indiavision, Wednesday (12/19/2012).
But the researchers also suggest alternatives to increase levels of vitamin D children in addition to drinking milk that taking supplements of vitamin D, especially in winter. This method also proved to be able to maintain stocks of iron in the body of the child.
"In fact, vitamin D deficiency in children has long been associated with impaired bone health while causing iron deficiency anemia and cognitive developmental delays," said Dr. Maguire.
Even so, the Canadian Paediatric Society recommends that cow's milk should not be given before the child reaches the age of one year.
The study has been published in the journal Pediatrics.
Source: Indiavision
