You are here: Q&A->
Page 18->Cows' milk and constipation
Cows' milk and constipation
My two-year-old son has been constipated now for over a month. Would soy milk be a better substitute for cows' milk to help alleviate this problem?
Yes, according to a study by Italian researchers at the University of Palermo which tested the responses of 65 constipated children, under the age of six, when they were switched from cows' milk to soy milk for two weeks.
Reporting their findings in The New England Journal of Medicine, the scientists found that in 68% of the children, the constipation either cleared completely or significantly improved.
More interestingly, to confirm these findings, they switched some of the children back to cow’s milk and found that in every single child who had been switched back, the symptoms of constipation returned within five to 10 days leading the scientists to conclude that in some children, a hypersensitivity to cow’s milk can trigger chronic constipation.
(SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine 1998;339:1100-1104,1155-1156.)