SynthesisThe American journal of clinical nutrition2020
Whole milk compared with reduced-fat milk and childhood overweight: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in The American journal of clinical nutrition, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- The divergent association of diet intake, parental education, and nutrition policy with childhood overweight and obesity from low- to high-income countries: A meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2024Pooled it
- Terrestrial Animal Source Foods and Health Outcomes for Those with Special Nutrient Needs in the Life Course.Nutrients · 2024Pooled it
- Interventions to increase the consumption of water among children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2020Pooled it
- Association of cow's milk intake in early childhood with adiposity and cardiometabolic risk in early adolescence.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Beyond Saturated Fat: A Four-Dimensional Framework for Understanding Milk Fat in Human Health.Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety · 2026Review
- Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Screening Tool for Portuguese Well-Child Visits.Child: care, health and development · 2026Article
- The Association Between Consumption of Foods/Food Groups and the Risk of Overweight/Obesity and Metabolically Unhealthy Obesity in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Milk fat intake, adiposity, and obesity in Canadian children: findings from the prospective Canadian CHILD Cohort Study.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Article
- Cow's milk consumption in childhood and adolescence: a Q&A expert review of current evidence.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Low-fat dairy and yogurt intake are positively associated with general and abdominal obesity among Chinese children: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Regular-fat and low-fat dairy foods and cardiovascular diseases: perspectives for future dietary recommendations.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Review
- Milk and dairy products - a scoping review for Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023.Food & nutrition research · 2024Article
- Effect of various types of milk on salivary pH among children: a pilot randomized controlled crossover trial.BDJ open · 2023Article
- Review
- Plasma Fatty Acid Biomarkers of Dairy Consumption Are Associated with Sex-Dependent Effects on Metabolic Syndrome Components in Mexican Adolescents.Annals of nutrition & metabolism · 2023Article
- Dietary profile of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea patients, effects of routine educational counseling, and predictors for outcomes.Frontiers in public health · 2023Observational
- Cow's Milk in Human Nutrition and the Emergence of Plant-Based Milk Alternatives.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Reasonableness of Enriching Cow's Milk with Vitamins and Minerals.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Association of waist circumference with blood pressure and familial dietary habits in preschool children: a cross-sectional study in northeastern China.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe majority of children in North America consume cow-milk daily. Children aged >2 y are recommended to consume reduced-fat (0.1-2%) cow-milk to lower the risk of obesity.
objectivesTo evaluate the relation between cow-milk fat consumption and adiposity in children aged 1-18 y.
methodsEmbase (Excerpta Medica Database), CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), MEDLINE, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases from inception to August 2019 were used. The search included observational and interventional studies of healthy children aged 1-18 y that described the association between cow-milk fat consumption and adiposity. Two reviewers extracted data, using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale to assess risk of bias. Meta-analysis was conducted using random effects to evaluate the relation between cow-milk fat and risk of overweight or obesity. Adiposity was assessed using BMI z-score (zBMI).
resultsOf 5862 reports identified by the search, 28 met the inclusion criteria: 20 were cross-sectional and 8 were prospective cohort. No clinical trials were identified. In 18 studies, higher cow-milk fat consumption was associated with lower child adiposity, and 10 studies did not identify an association. Meta-analysis included 14 of the 28 studies (n = 20,897) that measured the proportion of children who consumed whole milk compared with reduced-fat milk and direct measures of overweight or obesity. Among children who consumed whole (3.25% fat) compared with reduced-fat (0.1-2%) milk, the OR of overweight or obesity was 0.61 (95% CI: 0.52, 0.72; P < 0.0001), but heterogeneity between studies was high (I2 = 73.8%).
conclusionsObservational research suggests that higher cow-milk fat intake is associated with lower childhood adiposity. International guidelines that recommend reduced-fat milk for children might not lower the risk of childhood obesity. Randomized trials are needed to determine which cow-milk fat minimizes risk of excess adiposity. This systematic review and meta-analysis was registered with PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42018085075).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.