Objective: To determine the association between milk consumption, lifestyle, components of the metabolic syndrome, and insulin resistance in school children.
Study design: Students (n = 365 [175M]) age 10 +/- 2.3 years from 2 poor suburbs of Buenos Aires were examined for body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, and Tanner stage in April 2007. Fasting concentrations of lipids, insulin, and glucose were determined. Mothers completed questionnaires about their children's lifestyle.
Results: Approximately 14.0% of the children were obese, and 12.1% were overweight by use of norms from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Half were at Tanner I. Mean values of waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, insulin resistance, and insulin were higher as subjects consumed more glasses of milk. Multiple regression analysis with insulin resistance as the dependent variable showed that there was a significant and positive association with triglyceridemia (beta = 0.007) and waist circumference (beta = 0.024), and a negative association with milk consumption (beta = -0.135) adjusted for blocks walked daily, TV viewing, soft drink consumption, parental educational level, sex, age, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and systolic blood pressure (R(2) = 0.27).
Conclusions: Increased milk consumption was associated with greater insulin sensitivity, suggesting that it might reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.