Cow’s Milk Is Not Ideal for Children at Any Age

To the Editor Bodnar et al¹ promote cow’s milk for children, including those at risk for health problems associated with milk consumption, and discourage the use of more healthful choices. They cite the 2019 report on healthy beverage consumption from Healthy Eating Research,² which contains short-sighted recommendations that take a toll on people of color, particularly African American individuals; is incomplete, misguided, and poorly referenced; and may do harm. The authors¹ ignore several reasons for concern about broadly recommending cow’s milk, including its association with lactose intolerance symptoms and prostate and ovarian cancers, and its unnecessary load of saturated fat, cholesterol, and estrogens.