Health Tip – Audio Version – “More bone”
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step – Kids and Their Bones: A Guide for Parents (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)

Strong bones and dairy foods seem to go together. A researcher says kids who have at least two servings a day of dairy foods starting in childhood had stronger bones as teenagers.

Lynn Moore of Boston University School of Medicine based that on 12 years of records of what kids ate, starting at the age of 3 to 5. The study, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, was in the Journal of Pediatrics.

“Their bone mass was greater in a large variety of areas, including their arms and legs, and the trunk area, and the ribs and pelvis.’’

Moore says the study underlines the value of low-fat milk, cheese and other dairy foods as a normal part of what kids eat. But she says too few kids eat enough dairy.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: October, 01 2008