Two Cups of Milk a Day Enough to Keep Children Healthy

Parents are often confused about the quantity of milk their children should take every day to remain healthy.  According to a new study, two cups of milk per day is enough to keep children fit and fine and to maintain adequate levels of vitamin D and iron in the body.

For the study, lead author Dr. Jonathon Maguire and colleagues included more than 1,300 children aged between two and five. 

All children included in the study were part of a program called "TARGET Kids!" that tracks children from birth and tries to solve their nutrition problems. Parents provided details about children's milk intake and other food habits that influence iron and vitamin D levels in the body. Iron and vitamin D levels of these children were measured through blood tests.

They found a higher milk intake helping to increase vitamin D levels, but negatively affecting iron levels.

"We started to research the question because professional recommendations around milk intake were unclear and doctors and parents were seeking answers," Dr. Maguire, a pediatrician at St. Michael's Hospital, said in a news release. "We saw that two cups of cow's milk per day was enough to maintain adequate vitamin D levels for most children, while also maintaining iron stores. With additional cow's milk, there was a further reduction in iron stores without greater benefit from vitamin D."

To maintain adequate levels of vitamin D during the winter season, parents should provide their children vitamin D supplementation, rather than increasing milk quantity, researchers said.

Findings of the study have been published online in Pediatrics.

Vitamin D is essential for bone growth and a deficiency can lead to rickets, a bone-softening disease, in young children. According to experts from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), children should be given foods rich in vitamin D like milk, cereal, orange juice, yogurt and margarine, and it is essential for children to take a supplement of vitamin D daily, as it is difficult to maintain the adequate levels only through diet. Finding the life-long health benefits of vitamin D, the AAP revised its vitamin D supplementation from 200 IU to 400 IU per day.

Some of the natural sources of vitamin D, apart from sunshine, include shiitake and button mushrooms, oily fish (tuna, mackerel, trout, herring, sardines, kipper, carp, anchovies and orange roughy), beef liver, cheese and egg yolks.

Iron is crucial for the healthy growth of a child. An iron deficiency can affect the normal growth of a child, interfere with his/her learning abilities and harm the immune system.