A review study has found that children drinking whole milk had 40 per cent lower chances of getting overweight or obese as compared to the ones who drank reduced-fat milk.

The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and was led by St Michael's Hospital of Unity Health Toronto. The study was conducted by analysing 28 other studies from seven different countries involving the exploration of the relationship between children who drink cow's milk and their risk of being obese or overweight. None of the 28 studies involving a total of 21,000 children of up to the age of 18-years showed that children drinking reduced-fat milk had lower odds of being obese or overweight.

On the contrary, 18 studies suggested that children that consumed whole milk had a lesser likelihood of being overweight or obese. "The majority of children in Canada and the United States consume cow's milk on a daily basis and it is a major contributor of dietary fat for many children," said Dr Jonathon Maguire, lead researcher of the study. "In our review, children following the current recommendation of switching to reduced-fat milk at age two were not leaner than those consuming whole milk," he added.