Abstract
The full fracture histories of 50 children (30 girls and 20 boys, age range 3 to 13
years) who had avoided drinking cow’s milk for prolonged periods were compared with
those in a birth cohort of more than 1,000 children from the same city. Children who
avoided milk did not use calcium-rich food substitutes appropriately and had low dietary
calcium intakes and low bone mineral density values. Many were overweight (22 of 50).
Significantly more of the children who avoided milk reported fractures (16 observed
vs 6 expected, χ2=31.0, P<.001, df=5). They also experienced more total fractures than the birth cohort population (22
observed vs 8 expected, χ2=33.6, P<.001, df=5). All of the fractures occurred before puberty, the majority (18 of 22) being associated
with only slight trauma. Forearm fractures were especially common (12 fractures).
We conclude that young children avoiding milk are prone to fracture.
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Biography
A. Goulding is a professorial research fellow and A.M. Grant and I.E. Jones are junior research fellows in the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences
Biography
J.E.P. Rockell and R.E. Black are students in the Department of Human Nutrition
Biography
S.M. Williams is a biostatistician with the Department of Preventative and Social Medicine, all at the University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand
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© 2004 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
