Drinking Milk makes you Taller

Drink your milk kids – especially if you want to be tall. Did you know that drinking milk can make you taller.

There is a catch though; you need to drink milk when you are young. And moms – your milk drinking habits while pregnant can also affect the growth potential of your children.

To some people this will boggle their minds, but study how many nutrients are in milk and this won’t sound crazy at all– it is very logical. There have been numerous studies showing milks influence on growth. It makes sense, the more nutrients you give your body in your early formative years, the more your body will keep building to its maximum potential.

Milk has all the building blocks for life and drinking more of it will make you tall.

Tall People drink Milk

By drinking milk, the Dutch have become the tallest people in the world. Milk and dairy are considered staples of the Dutch diet and interestingly these foods have propelled the Dutch to new heights.

An article in the BBC highlighted the fact that Holland has the tallest people in the world. This has been correlated to dairy intake – the average Dutchman consumes 25% more dairy products than the UK or US. In the mid-1800s, the average Dutchman was an average height only 5ft 4in tall – similar to surrounding countries. After consuming more dairy products than any other nation for 200 years, Dutch people are more than 6ft tall on average. Genetics you might say, but it’s not exclusive to any genes. The phenomenon is not only genetic because even immigrants who moved to the Netherlands end up taller. (Source)

In the mid-1800s, the average Dutchman was an average height only 5ft 4in tall (similar to surrounding countries) but after consuming more dairy products than any other nation for 200 years, Dutch people are more than 6ft tall on average

The Dutch are not the only example; milk drinking has made people in other countries taller.

Another culture that heavily relies on dairy products as its main food source are the Maasai. Many Maasai are over 6 ft. tall and they are taller than nearby populations. They attribute their height to their consumption dairy products.

The Maasai I saw tended to average about 6 feet, were thin (not much body fat), and had closely spaced nostrils. The Bantu living in Nairobi proper tended to be shorter, stockier, and have widely spaced nostrils. From personal experience in the Arusha region in Tanzania, I can safely say that the Maasai I spoke to attribute their height to a combination of genetics and their diet, which is heavy in calcium and dairy products. The Maasai are taller than agrarian peoples in the region because milk is consumed on a less frequent basis, resulting in a stunted growth among many (Source)

A study in Israel came to similar conclusions about milk and its growth correlations. An independent study, conducted by Dr. Tali Sinai from the School of Nutritional Science at Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture, followed children that drank cow’s milk and those that didn’t drink milk. The kids that didn’t drink milk were shorter. Dr. Sinai pointed out that “Some of these kids are even 10 cm shorter than their parents,” suggesting that they did not reach their full height. According to Dr. Tal Sinai, the study showed “without a doubt” a link between drinking milk and growth. (Source)

According to Dr. Sinai the difference may be due to the fact that milk provides high-quality protein and nutrition for a growing child.

“Milk is a source of energy, of high-quality biological protein, of vital fatty acids, of vitamins and of minerals, which are all concentrated in one type of food. Children who don’t consume milk must find a way to make up the nutritional deprivations in order to prevent growth problems,” – Dr. Tali Sinai (Source)

An American Study studying female height growth and milk consumption had similar findings proving a correlation between drinking more milk and increased growth. The study followed a group of girls ages 9-11 and compared their growth rates based on how much milk they consumed. The girls drinking more milk had higher growth rates (Source)

Drinking Milk during Pregnancy

Are you tall, you might need to go thank your mom for drinking milk while she was pregnant. Moms who drink more milk while pregnant have taller kids.

In Denmark, researchers found that consuming milk while pregnant will affect your child’s future growth potential. Women who consumed the most milk while pregnant in the study had the tallest children. There was a direct correlation between the amount of milk consumed during pregnancy and the height of their children in not only adolescence, but even 20 years later! The results, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, show teenagers of both genders were generally taller if their mothers had drunk roughly a quarter of a pint of milk a day during the pregnancy. (Source)

Moms and future moms, you can have a big impact (should I say tall impact) on your children’s future physical characteristics.

Milk is full of nutrients. Drinking more nutrients during formative years, will help you reach your maximum potential. If you want to be tall, drink milk.

Note: This does not apply to fake milks