Low dairy intake in early childhood predicts excess body fat gain

Objective: To estimate the effect of dairy intake in early childhood on the acquisition of body fat throughout childhood. Research Methods and Procedures: Ninety-nine of the original 106 families enrolled in the Framingham Children's Study with a child age to 6 years at baseline were followed into adolescence through yearly clinic visits and periodic data collection throughout each year. Dairy intake for these analyses was derived from a mean of 15 days of diet records per subject collected before age 6. A trained examiner took two measurements each year of height, weight, and triceps, subscapular, suprailiac, and abdominal skinfolds using a standardized protocol. Yearly change in body fat was estimated as the slope of these anthropometry measures from ages 5 to 13 years. Early adolescent body fat was estimated as the mean of all available measurements from 10 to 13 years of age. Results: Children in the lowest sex-specific tertile of dairy intake during preschool (i.e., <1.25 servings per day for girls and <1.70 servings per day for boys) had significantly greater gains in body fat during childhood. These children with low dairy intakes gained more than 3 additional mm of subcutaneous fat per year in the sum of four skinfold measures. By the time of early adolescence, those in the lowest tertile of dairy intake had a BMI that was approximately two units higher and an extra 25 mm of subcutaneous fat. Discussion: Suboptimal dairy intakes during preschool in this cohort were associated with greater gains in body fat throughout childhood.