Milk increases adult height!?

[Humble]

I didn't know until now that milk increases adult height indefinitely.

 

First link shows .6"  increase if 3+ glasses a day compared to 0-1 glasses a day from the table but then goes on to state 1" then could be 2" due to error (confused)

Second link shows "The effect of milk on height is modest; the regression equations would predict that adding 1 cup of milk to the diet daily should result in an average of about 0.5–0.6 cm of total height among adolescents, or incremental increases in milk consumption frequency should add between 0.3 and0.7 cm in completed adult height."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3740511/#R7

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/doi/10.1002/ajhb.20411/pdf

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/80/4/1088.2.full

And another study  stated a 2.5cm increase compared to control over 3 years for 500-1000ml a day compared to 0-500ml. But those first two above are the only long term ones I could find.

 

However no effect with NZ study. Prehaps because NZ bans injecting hormones into cows? I don't know...

http://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/APJCN/13/4/341.pdf

 

I wish I was told about this when I was growing because I would of drunk 2 litres a day. I drunk  chocolate nesquik every now and then as well as hot chocolates as a child and then went through a brief phase of chocolate primo. Then drunk 1litre a day before 19 which was most probaly too late even considering I developed later then average.

 

How much did you guys drink per day?

[Leeroid]

It seems to be the IGF-1 that is stimulating growth in those studies which is odd as I thought that IGF1 was not absorbed if taken orally. Even if any of the hormone survived the acidic stomach, absorption into the bloodstream would be very poor. That first study commenced in 1996 and finished in 2003. Most developed countries banned the use of bovine rGH in 1999.

Not entirely convinced that milk does increase adult height but it's cheap and good for you anyway. My dad made us drink a lot of milk when we were younger probably a litre a day. Both my brother and I are 3 inches taller than our dad but that could be just a result of better nutrition overall and less childhood infections.

[Humble]

bovine rGH is only banned in some countries

"Several countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, and the European Union have banned rbGH because of its impacts on human and animal health."

[Dinahlady]

The study says dairy definitley does impact height difference - but the data for the other animal and vegetable fat and protein and total calories isn't precise enough so I dont know if they should be saying JUST dairy and nothing else impacted it. It means that they dont know if the  other things really did impact it but it was clear that dairy did. 

[Humble]

Just read a sysematic review and meta-analysis of controlled trails that concludes

"In conclusion, the most likely effect of dairy products supplementation is 0.4 cm per annum additional growth per 245 ml of milk. This strengthens our confidence that, if properly analysed, associations between dairy products consumption and height found in historical research reveal true relationships. Because this conclusion is based on moderate quality evidence a large (N 3940) well designed randomised trial comparing the effect of milk supplementation versus an isocaloric energy supplement on growth and including male and female participants with varying characteristics (baseline height, age, baseline consumption of milk) could have added value.

Meta-regression analysis indicated that milk might have more effect on growth than
other dairy products while lower height-for-age and being a teenager increased the effect
of supplementation.".

 

Now life is full of regret....

 

But what? 0.4cm x 18 years of life for a male = a whopping 7.2cm increase? Hard to believe...