October 23, 2023
3 minutes of reading
Key takeaways:
- Of the blogs recommending alternatives to milk, 47% were run by people without medical training.
- Commonly recommended alternatives were soy milk, almond milk, and rice milk.
WASHINGTON — An analysis of nearly 150 blogs recommending alternatives to milk for toddlers found that nearly half were run by people without any medical qualifications, according to findings presented at the University’s National Conference and Expo. AAP.
Milk alternatives are frequently used by people who are lactose intolerant or who cannot drink cow’s milk, although these alternatives may not be nutritionally equivalent to dairy products.
“We’ve noticed this explosion of milk alternatives, especially those aimed at children and young children,” Kara Sangiuolo, now a medical student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, told Healio. “Why are there so many milk substitutes, what do people think of these alternatives and what do caregivers think of them?” »
Sangiuolo and colleagues searched for phrases such as “children’s milk substitutes” on Google and collected information from the top 200 results for children younger than 5 years old.
They evaluated 145 popular blogs aimed at parents of infants and young children on the topic of milk substitutes to obtain data on the blog and author names, author credentials, and any specific concerns about substitutes with milk. They also noted the names of the “best” alternatives to milk, as the authors claim.
“We also collected any allergies or intolerances mentioned that milk alternatives could address, such as lactose intolerance or a nut allergy, as well as the types of milk alternatives and their nutritional composition,” Sangiuolo said.
In total, they found that 47% of blogs were run by laypeople without any medical training. The remaining 53% were led by nutritionists or dietitians (32%), nurses or doctors (12%), holistic providers (5%), and doctors or scientists (4%).
The results, Sangiuolo said, were “surprising” in that there was “such a range of recommendations that didn’t necessarily agree with each other.”
The authors found that blogs most often recommended soy milk (37%) and pea milk (17%) as the “best” alternatives to milk. Commonly recommended alternatives included soy (84%), almond (79%), rice (65%), coconut (60%), and oat milk (54%). Less common alternatives included milks derived from hemp (43%), goat (37%), and pea (35%).
“There were also a lot of other milks recommended, like making homemade milk or potato milk, that we had never seen before,” Sangiuolo said.
“Homemade” milks, she said, are alternatives to milk such as nut and oat milks, but made at home rather than store-bought. They were recommended for toddlers by 14 blogs and touted as the best alternative to milk by three of the blogs reviewed, although little is known about the nutritional information of these alternatives and the health claims are widely baseless, Sangiuolo said.
“There is a general lack of consistency and information on the internet and therefore many of their caregivers – particularly new parents who may have small children and are looking to transition from dairy to a milk alternative for their child – may be looking for this type of information that is easily available to them on the Internet,” Sangiuolo said. “They may not be aware that it may be unsubstantiated information and that the recommendations from these blogs do not necessarily correspond to recommendations from the AAP or other pediatric nutrition organizations.”
She wants to conduct a survey of parents who have opted for milk alternatives, asking them what their reasoning was and where they received their information.
“More medical research might be needed, just regarding the differences between the benefits and risks of all these different types of milk substitutes for children,” Sangiuolo said.
The references:
Parents of young children are getting information about increasingly popular nut milks and dairy alternatives from non-medical influencers and bloggers. https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases/conference-news-releases/parents-of-toddlers-are-getting-facts-about-increasingly-popular-nut-milks-and- dairy-product-substitutes-from-non-medical-influencers-and-bloggers/. Published October 20, 2023. Accessed October 22, 2023.
Sangiuolo K, et al. Milk mania: analysis of online information and perception regarding alternatives to milk for toddlers. Presented at: AAP National Conference and Exhibition; October 20-24, 2023; Washington DC
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Sangiuolo K, et al. Milk mania: analysis of online information and perception regarding alternatives to milk for toddlers. Presented at: AAP National Conference and Exhibition; October 20-24, 2023; Washington DC
Disclosures: Sangiuolo reports no relevant financial disclosures.
American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition
