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Is Whole Milk Healthier for Kids?
President Trump signed bipartisan legislation on Wednesday allowing school cafeterias to serve whole milk and 2 percent milk — another step toward fulfilling the administration’s promise to “end the war” on saturated fats. The move is the latest chapter in a long debate about whether milk fat is helpful or harmful for children.
Since 2012, any school that participates in the National School Lunch Program, which offers federal funding for meals, has served only nonfat or 1 percent milk to reduce children’s risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease. Recently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, and members of his Make America Healthy Again movement have championed whole milk; new federal dietary guidelines released last week encourage Americans to drink more of it.
Representatives for the dairy industry, who lobbied for the change, and the legislators who voted for it say that there’s no evidence that whole milk is harmful to children’s health. Some children may prefer higher fat milk, so allowing it to be served in schools could encourage them to drink more of it — increasing children’s consumption of the nutrients it provides.
Air Pollution Increases Risk of Childhood High Blood Pressure
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Children might wind up with high blood pressure due to air pollution exposure that occurred in the womb or the cradle, a new study says. Exposure to smog before and after birth increases a child’s odds of having higher blood pressure between ages 5 and 12, researchers report in the March 2026 issue of the journal Environmental Research.
The study specifically linked childhood blood pressure to fine particle pollution.
“These findings add to growing evidence that early-life exposure to fine particulate air pollution may affect children’s cardiometabolic health, even at relatively low levels,” lead researcher Yu Ni said in a news release. She’s an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at San Diego State University.
High blood pressure among children is becoming more common, increasing by nearly 80% over the past two decades, researchers said in background notes. It can lead to long-term health problems like heart disease and impaired kidney function. For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 4,800 children participating in a National Institutes of Health-funded study on how environmental influences can affect a child’s health.
Kansas Disregards CDC Vaccine Changes, Will Trust Scientific Evidence Instead
Kansas’ top health agency is sticking with the longstanding childhood immunization schedule instead of implementing new guidelines released Jan. 5 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, a state spokeswoman said.
Although the Kansas Department of Health and Environment is evaluating the new vaccination schedule, KDHE does not currently anticipate changes to Kansas’ clinical guidance for childhood immunization schedules, spokeswoman Jill Bronaugh said in an email to the Kansas Reflector. “KDHE is committed to the well-being of Kansans, and we continue to emphasize the importance of clear communication, transparency and trust in scientific evidence,” she said. “Vaccines remain one of the most effective tools for preventing serious infectious diseases, and decades of rigorous studies have shown they are safe and effective.”
KDHE will continue to review and assess the modified childhood vaccine schedule released by the CDC and how it could impact the health of Kansas children, Bronaugh said. In the past, the state’s vaccination schedule has followed the CDC’s recommendations. The CDC’s newly released vaccination schedule dropped the number of childhood vaccinations from 17 to 10, a move vigorously disputed by leading health care organizations.
Fathers’ Early Interactions With Babies May Affect Child Health Years Later
How a new father behaves toward his baby can change family dynamics in a way that affects the child’s heart and metabolic health years later, according to a new study by researchers in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development. In the study, recently published in Health Psychology, the research team found that fathers who were warm and developmentally supportive with their babies at 10 months of age had more positive co-parenting with the child’s mother when the child was two years old.
In families where this pattern played out, the child’s bloodwork indicated better markers of physical health at seven years of age. In contrast, neither the mother’s warmth when the child was 10 months old nor her positive or negative co-parenting when the child was two predicted the child’s physical health at age seven. This doesn’t mean that mothers do not matter, the researchers said.
“Everyone in the family matters a lot,” said Alp Aytuglu, postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Biobehavioral Health. “Mothers are often the primary caregivers, and children are experiencing the most growth and development. The takeaway here is that in families with a father in the household, dads affect the environment in ways that can support — or undermine — the health of the child for years to come.”
Australia Removes 4.7M Kids From Social Media Platforms in First Month of Historic Ban
Social media companies have removed access to millions of accounts belonging to children in Australia in the first month since the country’s historic ban took effect, requiring platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok to identify and deactivate users under the age 16.
Access was revoked for roughly 4.7 million users, according to Australian officials, who on Friday touted the early success of the law, which was enacted in mid-December amid fears surrounding the impact of online environments on young people. “Today, we can announce that this is working,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during a news conference. “This is a source of Australian pride. This was world-leading legislation, but it is now being followed up around the world.”Under the law, 10 social media giants — Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat, Kick, Reddit, Threads, Twitch and YouTube — must locate and deactivate accounts of Australian users under the age of 16. The companies face fines of up to $33 million if they don’t take “reasonable steps” to remove underage users.
