Milk powder and sex hormones in pre-pubertal children
What it found
In 51 healthy pre-pubertal children, drinking whole milk powder raised blood progesterone for a few hours but made no lasting difference to other sex hormones.
The authors say the effect was short lived.
What they found
Studies in people
Blood hormones after milk
Three hours after drinking, blood levels of FSH, estradiol, PRL, LH and testosterone were not significantly changed. Blood progesterone was higher than in the control group.
Urine hormone over 4 hours
Milk raised the level of pregnanediol in urine within 4 hours. This rise was not significant when compared with the control group.
Morning urine over 3 days
Pregnanediol and estradiol in morning urine over three days in a row showed no significant difference between the milk and control groups.
Other findings
Hormones in the milk
Testing the cow's milk showed progesterone was present. Estrone, estradiol and testosterone were not detected.
What the authors conclude
“Drinking commercial milk with progesterone influenced the progesterone levels of pre-pubertal children in hours but not days and did not affect other sex hormone levels of pre-pubertal children.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say drinking commercial milk with progesterone changed progesterone levels in pre-pubertal children over hours but not days.
- They say it did not affect other sex hormone levels in these children.
How it was done
Commercial milk may contain pregnancy-related hormones, and the authors wanted to know whether drinking it affects children's sex hormone levels.
They randomly split 51 healthy pre-pubertal children in China into a milk group and a control group, in a 3 to 1 ratio. The milk group drank 250 or 600 mL per square metre of body surface area of whole milk powder, while the control group drank matching sugar water with the same energy. They measured hormones in blood 3 hours later and in urine over the next few days.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- The study lasted only a few days, so it cannot show what happens with longer-term milk drinking.
- It cannot show whether these short-term hormone changes matter for growth or puberty.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Nanjing Medical University, China; Peking University, China
The paper
- Title
- Short-term serum and urinary changes in sex hormones of healthy pre-pubertal children after the consumption of commercially available whole milk powder: a randomized, two-level, controlled-intervention trial in China
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Wu J, Shi X, Zhang M, et al (2022). Short-term serum and urinary changes in sex hormones of healthy pre-pubertal children after the consumption of commercially available whole milk powder: a randomized, two-level, controlled-intervention trial in China. Food & function. doi:10.1039/d2fo02321kPubMed 36193812DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error