In fact, after adjusting for the effect of the other beverages, 14% of the heavier 2-year-olds drank 1% milk compared to 9% of normal-weight youngsters, and 16% of the overweight or obese 4-year-olds drank the 2% milk compared to 13% of the normal-weight 4-year-olds.

CNN: Drinking skim milk may not lower child obesity risk

Overall, children who drank the 2% milk showed lower BMI scores than those drinking the 1% milk.

CNN: Drinking skim milk may not lower child obesity risk

Even more puzzling, when DeBoer analyzed how choice of milk might be affecting weight over time, he found that children who were normal weight at the start of the study and consistently drank the 1% milk showed a 57% increased chance of becoming overweight or obese by the they were 4.

CNN: Drinking skim milk may not lower child obesity risk

The survey tracked the long-term health of a population of American kids born in 2001, and the researchers interviewed the caregivers and parents of the kids when they were 2 and again when they were 4 about what kind of milk the kids drank: skim, 1% semi-skimmed milk, 2% milk, full fat milk or soy.

CNN: Drinking skim milk may not lower child obesity risk

After the Chernobyl disaster, about 6, 000 children exposed to radiation later developed thyroid cancer, because many drank contaminated milk after the accident.

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Where the Pilgrims drank unpasteurized milk filled with potentially life threatening bacteria, we fret about drinking anything out of plastic containing BPA, even though Health Canada pointed out that we would need to drink more than 1, 000 liters a day to exceed the safety level (which has an additional safety factor to make the safe level even safer).

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And then the Soviet government did not tell people about the accident for days, during which time children drank locally produced milk, which contained the radioactive iodine.

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Throngs gathered around him as he drank the winner's traditional bottle of milk and later kissed the Speedway's bricks.

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So Dr. Mark Daniel DeBoer, an associate professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and his colleagues turned to a large database of 10, 700 children in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, Birth Cohort to investigate the relationship between the type of milk children drank and their body mass index (BMI).

CNN: Drinking skim milk may not lower child obesity risk

The Chinese State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said the amount of the chemical found in the milk would not cause ill effects in adults who drank less than two liters a day.

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But the data on normal-weight 2-year-olds who drank 1% milk and still gained weight contradicts this idea.

CNN: Drinking skim milk may not lower child obesity risk