For Taller Children, Drink Milk While Pregnant
We're told not to smoke or drink while we're pregnant, run marathons (though some do), or decide to take up skydiving. But did you know that milk is now another problem, too?
Here's the deal. Milk drinking is tied to height. According to The New York Times, a new study suggests that the amount of milk a pregnant woman drinks may affect the adult height of her adult offspring.
After adjusting for the mother's height, weight, BMI and other factors, researchers found that mothers who drank more than five ounces a milk a day had bigger babies, Nicholas Bakalar reports. By age 20, children whose mothers drank five ounces or more a day were a half-inch taller than those of mothers who did not.
A team of scientists tracked babies born in the late ‘80s, and found that their height during adolescence was directly related to how much milk their mothers consumed when they were in the womb. Another study found that drinking more milk raised babies' IQ (because of the iodine in milk).
"There aren't many prenatal dietary or environmental factors identified that explain growth in children," Thorhallur Halldorsson, a researcher at Center for Fetal Programming at the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen told Bakalar. "Milk drinking may be one. It does increase weight and length at birth, and there's a possibility that this actually tracks into adult life."
So, if you want tall kids, drink up! Milk, that is.
Here's the deal. Milk drinking is tied to height. According to The New York Times, a new study suggests that the amount of milk a pregnant woman drinks may affect the adult height of her adult offspring.
After adjusting for the mother's height, weight, BMI and other factors, researchers found that mothers who drank more than five ounces a milk a day had bigger babies, Nicholas Bakalar reports. By age 20, children whose mothers drank five ounces or more a day were a half-inch taller than those of mothers who did not.
A team of scientists tracked babies born in the late ‘80s, and found that their height during adolescence was directly related to how much milk their mothers consumed when they were in the womb. Another study found that drinking more milk raised babies' IQ (because of the iodine in milk).
"There aren't many prenatal dietary or environmental factors identified that explain growth in children," Thorhallur Halldorsson, a researcher at Center for Fetal Programming at the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen told Bakalar. "Milk drinking may be one. It does increase weight and length at birth, and there's a possibility that this actually tracks into adult life."
So, if you want tall kids, drink up! Milk, that is.
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