Milk Helps Build Strong Bones

Mothers Play a Powerful Role in Determining Strength of
Daughters’ Bones

I Love Strong Bones Decades of research suggest that one of the best ways to keep fractures and osteoporosis out of your daughter’s future is to encourage her to drink lowfat milk instead of sugary sodas and fruit drinks, which often take the place of milk.

Currently, nine out of 10 teenage girls fail to get enough of the calcium they need. Milk and milk products are the major source of calcium in the diet and provide other important bone-building nutrients including vitamin D, protein, potassium and phosphorus. Many studies have examined milk’s effect on bone health in children and adolescents.

Regularly drinking milk during the growing years is associated with greater height, bone size and bone mineralization, while research has linked skipping milk to reduced height and increased fracture rates.

Girl With Milk and Strawberries

Forearm fracture rates of children and adolescents have increased sharply in the United States in recent years, and many researchers are worried that falling milk consumption and displacement of milk by carbonated drinks may be a factor.

There are more than 300 published clinical trials and metabolic studies relating calcium and dairy intake to bone status, and the majority of those studies showed high dairy and high calcium intakes protect the skeleton and increase its strength. Some of the recent studies have found:

• Children (ages 3-13) who avoided milk were found to suffer from fractures more frequently than their milk-drinking peers. The majority of the milk avoiders had family members who did not drink milk.1

• In a two-year study of young children with a history of prolonged milk avoidance, the milk avoiders were more likely to suffer from osteopenia (low bone mass), were shorter, and had higher body mass indices (an indicator of body weight) compared to children who regularly drank milk.2

• Regular calcium intake, especially calcium from milk, had a favorable effect on girls’ bone mass and attainment of peak bone density, which are critical factors in determining risk of osteoporosis later in life.3

• Moms who drink milk are likely to have daughters who drink milk and the availability of milk at meals and snacks was associated with meeting calcium recommendations and bone mineral status. The researchers suggest that early beverage choices, including choosing milk, learned well before rapid growth could have significant impact on bone health during adolescence.4

Drinking milk should be a family affair. Studies show that daughters whose moms drink milk regularly consume more of it themselves – and drink less soda. So it’s not just what we say but what we do, that really matters. And as moms, we need the nine essential nutrients in milk, too.

During Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention month, the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) is encouraging moms and their daughters to make lifelong bone health a family tradition. Researchers have long cited a clear link between the risk for osteoporosis and family history as evidenced by generations of mothers suffering from osteoporosis and generations of daughters witnessing the effects of the disease—not realizing their own risk.

The NOF offers the following tools to help raise awareness of the importance of family bone health.


National Osteoporosis Foundation • 25 facts about your bones and osteoporosis

• Bone toolkit with information on bone health and osteoporosis, along with steps you and your family can take to build and maintain strong bones.

• A poster and a postcard to remind you and your family to be good to your bones.



Powerful Bones Powerful Girls The Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health uses the National Bone Health Campaign (NBHC), Powerful Bones. Powerful Girls.™ to promote optimal bone health in girls aged 9–12, and thus reduce their risk of osteoporosis later in life.

The Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health knows that parents play an important role in helping their children take action for healthy bones.

Visit girlshealth.gov for parent information on calcium needs, recipes, bone-building activities for the whole family and more.



1. Goulding A, et al. Children who avoid drinking cow’s milk are at increased risk for prepubertal bone fractures. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2004; 104:250-253.
2. Rockell JEP, et al. Two-year changes in bone and body composition in young children with a history of prolonged milk avoidance. Osteoporosis International. 2005; 16:1016-1023.
3. Fiorito LM, et al. Girls’ calcium intake is associated with bone mineral content during middle childhood. Journal of Nutrition. 2006; 136:1281-1286.
4. Fisher JO, et al. Meeting calcium recommendations during middle childhood reflects mother-daughter beverage choice and predicts bone mineral status. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2004; 79:698-706.