Children who avoid drinking cow's milk are at increased risk for prepubertal bone fractures.

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, chi(2)=31.0, P<.001, df=5). They also experienced more total fractures than the birth cohort population (22 observed vs 8 expected, chi(2)=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.

Children who avoid drinking cow milk have low dietary calcium intakes and poor bone health.

BACKGROUND: Information concerning the adequacy of bone mineralization in children who customarily avoid drinking cow milk is sparse. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to evaluate dietary calcium intakes, anthropometric measures, and bone health in prepubertal children with a history of long-term milk avoidance. DESIGN: We recruited 50 milk avoiders (30 girls, 20 boys) aged 3-10 y by advertisement. We measured current dietary calcium intakes with a food-frequency questionnaire and body composition and bone mineral density with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and compared the results with those of 200 milk-drinking control children. RESULTS: The reasons for milk avoidance were intolerance (40%), bad taste (42%), and lifestyle choice (18%). Dietary calcium intakes were low (443 +/- 230 mg Ca/d), and few children consumed substitute calcium-rich drinks or mineral supplements. Although 9 children (18%) were obese, the milk avoiders were shorter (P < 0.01), had smaller skeletons (P < 0.01), had a lower total-body bone mineral content (P < 0.01), and had lower z scores (P < 0.05) for areal bone mineral density at the femoral neck, hip trochanter, lumbar spine, ultradistal radius, and 33% radius than did control children of the same age and sex from the same community. The z scores for volumetric (size-adjusted) bone mineral density (g/cm(3)) were -0.72 +/- 1.17 for the lumbar spine and -0.72 +/- 1.35 for the 33% radius (P < 0.001). Twelve children (24%) had previously broken bones. CONCLUSIONS: In growing children, long-term avoidance of cow milk is associated with small stature and poor bone health. This is a major concern that warrants further study.