Your child’s nutrition « Healthy Children

Dr. P’s Pediatric Journal Club

The 12/6/05 issue of the medical journal Circulation published an important study.

The study:
1,000 Finnish kids were divided into two groups at 7 months of age:

Those advised to give their children a low saturated fat (i.e., low animal fat) diet.
Those who received no dietary advice.

What the study found:
At age 16, boys (but not girls for some reason) on a low saturated-fat diet had:

Arteries that could widen larger and allow more blood flow.
Lower cholesterol levels.

What this study suggests:
A low saturated fat diet, started early in life, may improve the cardiovascular well-being of children, especially boys.

Dr. P’s comments

I think it’s pretty clear that a low saturated fat diet is beneficial for all humans, and that includes your kids. That implies that your family’s diet should generally include:

Only low fat or skim and milk products like yogurt ice cream
More chicken, more fish, less red meat.
More broiling and baking, much less frying.
More vegetable oil (without trans fats), much less butter.
Much more whole grains, fruits and veggies.

This was not – repeat not - a low fat diet. It was a low animal fat diet. Kids need dietary fat for optimal brain development.

A caveat from Dr. P:
In the U.S., it is recommended to give whole milk until age 2 or so. Until there is more research, I am playing it safe and recommending to continue to do so (although I suspect when there are enough further studies, we’ll see that the saturated fats in whole milk aren’t really crucial for brain development and low fat milk from the start is a good idea).