Claim: A TikTok business page advertised a popular milk brand and suggested that it is key to helping children grow in height.
Verdict: Misleading! Research and experts say an optimal diet is important for children and note that milk is only one of the foods required for growth.
Full Text
Raising children can be very taxing, especially for new parents. Beyond the monetary requirements, parents are saddled with the responsibility of ensuring their children are well nourished, emotionally stable, and get the best in life.
One of the major factors in proper growth and development in children is their nutritional needs. A child who is not properly and adequately nourished is at risk of malnutrition, which may have adverse consequences.
A report by the Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID) showed that malnutrition may cause death as well as stunting, which has serious and complex effects on the well-being of the child, encompassing both their physical and cognitive development.
The report also highlighted that stunted children often have a higher risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.
The first 1000 days of a child’s life (0-3 years) are an important phase of life, as it is the period where the brain’s ultimate structure and capacity are shaped. Not properly nourished children may suffer long-term health consequences regarding education, job potential, and adult mental health.
Armed with this information, baby formula manufacturers, follow-up milk manufacturers, and other cereal manufacturers include inviting and catchy phrases on their products to persuade parents to purchase them for their children.
One such is an advert on TikTok in which a vendor urges parents who want their kids to grow taller to buy a popular milk brand. The advert claims milk will help with height gain and increase brain power.
In the comment section, users started asking about the product’s price and how they could purchase it.
DUBAWA observed that while this is an advertising strategy, any element of misinformation in advertising campaigns may eventually affect the children’s health if the parents depend solely on the milk to provide the needed nutrition for the children.
Verification
An article published on CarePlus Vietnam addressed this issue. According to the article, height growth is not determined by milk alone. It is submitted that height growth combines various factors, including genetics (60–80%), nutrition, physical activity, living environment, and overall health.
It explained that adequate calorie intake and micronutrients such as Vitamin A, Vitamin D, lysine, calcium, iron, zinc, and iodine help children with continuous height gain, stating that “only when children gain sufficient weight can they grow taller.”
A research article published in the National Library of Medicine showed a positive association between milk consumption and growth in children, reducing the probability of being moderately or severely underweight or stunted.
However, the research’s limitations affected the data, as causative factors could not be established across the countries surveyed. There was a stronger association between children living in developed countries with more reliable access to other nutrient-dense foods and those from ‘rich’ households.
Another research report stated that there is evidence that consumption of dairy milk in childhood may stimulate the production of a hormone known as insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which is involved in the growth and development of bone and muscle.
However, Healthline explained that these nutrients are not exclusive to milk; they are present in other foods, especially for those who do not have milk readily available or choose not to include it in their child’s diet.
Meanwhile, it is recommended that children over 12 months of age consume no more than 500ml of milk per day, as this may lead to impaired iron absorption and anaemia.
In fact, some pediatric organisations suggest that children from 12 months to 24 months take only 2-3 cups of whole milk per day, and parents could switch to 2 cups of low-fat or skim cow’s milk per day from 2 years.
A similar study found that children above 30 months who consumed more than 500 ml of milk per day had an increased risk of obesity from 42 to 72 months of age and iron deficiency anaemia after 30 months.
Expert opinion
DUBAWA spoke with Henrietta Ugbeni, a consultant paediatrician at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo state, to gain more insight into the issue.
The paediatrician said that as a professional, her duty is to encourage exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life and afterwards. She added that parents can buy any brand of age-appropriate milk to supplement home-made meals.
The doctor explained that sometimes, catchy phrases on product tins are advertising campaigns and slogans encouraging parents to purchase the product.
She also noted that children from six months need all classes of food to grow adequately and properly, adding that depending on a single meal or product will not allow the child to attain their full potential height and weight, but instead affect their growth in the long run.
The paediatrician said, “Optimal feeding makes a child healthy and grows as they should. A single meal or product cannot do it.”
She explained that it is not ideal for a parent to purchase expensive milk products and eventually shortchange the quantity of milk a child requires because of the price.
“There is a certain quantity of milk a child is expected to take in a day. Depending on the age, a child may be expected to take a certain quantity of milk 8 times in a day, but because the milk is expensive, the mother may just feed the child 3 or 4 times in a day.
“Meanwhile, another parent who bought the less expensive brand may be feeding the child the required quantity because she’s not trying to manage the milk. The other baby on the not-so-expensive milk will get adequate nutrition compared to the one on the expensive milk.”
Also speaking, Kayode Alabi, a consultant pediatrician at the Garki Hospital said milk only cannot make a child increase in height without other factors such as the environment, genetic disposition of the child and overall nutrition.
“If a child is constitutionally short, giving them only milk cannot cause an increase in height. You have to consider the genetic, environmental and nutritional factors. There are lots of other foods and vitamins that is needed for a child to grow optimally, milk is only one of them.”
Conclusion
The TikTok advert tying height increase in children to only a milk diet is misleading. Growth in children, of which height increase is one, is an interplay of many factors.
