Got Milk? Cow’s milk consumption in childhood

Emily Goldsmith, BS, MA

​As a child of the 90s, I grew up in the heyday of the Got Milk? campaign. Posters of celebrities with the signature milk moustaches adorned my school cafeteria walls and my mom wouldn’t let me leave the house until I’d finished a tall glass of milk each morning. However, as an adult when I moved out on my own, cow’s milk stopped being a staple in my refrigerator and the general social trend seemed to be rejecting cow’s milk in favor of lower fat, typically lower calorie and vegan options like almond, soy, oat, and coconut milk. 

Fast forward a decade; my son recently had his 1st birthday, leading his pediatrician to provide us with the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation that he drink 2-3 cups of whole-fat cow’s milk daily, providing him with the essential nutrients, like calcium, needed to support his healthy growth. When toddlers turn two, the recommendation shifts to offering lower fat cow’s milk, but continued milk consumption is encouraged.

Following these recommendations, my fridge is now suddenly stocked with cow’s milk once again, but having personally moved away from drinking milk, I wonder if there are downsides to my child drinking it. I’m not alone in my questioning; there are popular critiques of the Got Milk? campaign and the strong federally backed push for milk consumption, with increasing attention paid to whether the “essential” nature of milk has been oversold while potential health risks have been underplayed. One common concern among parents is a risk of highly caloric milk consumption leading to childhood obesity. Fortunately, several studies have investigated this topic. In 2010, an article using Project Viva data found that drinking whole or lower fat milk at age 2 was not associated with being overweight at age 3. A review of 94 studies that examined the connection between milk consumption and obesity found that milk consumption is not shown to be associated with obesity in children. Similarly, a 2020 study found that earlier introduction of cow’s milk was associated with greater height but not with greater weight. One 2021 study’s findings showed that among ~400,000 children, high milk consumption (defined as over 500ml or just over 2 cups per day) at 30-36 months was associated with an increased risk of obesity at 42–72 months.
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Taken together, this research indicates that parents who would like to include cow’s milk in their children’s diets can do so knowing that there are health benefits. However, parents may want to moderate the level of milk intake to avoid the risk of obesity later in childhood (or due to additional concerns like lactose intolerance). More research is needed to identify the level of risk associated with high milk consumption, but I personally feel secure offering my son cow’s milk, giving him the nutritional benefits that milk provides (when he doesn’t spill it all on the floor, that is).