RT Journal
A1 Berkey CS
T1 WHy blame milk?—reply
JF Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
JO Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
YR 2005
FD December 1
VO 159
IS 12
SP 1186
OP 1188
DO 10.1001/archpedi.159.12.1188
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.159.12.1188
AB 
We appreciate the comments of Dr Lappe on our longitudinal study of milk consumption and weight gain in adolescents.1 To clarify a point in her letter, our earlier (2004) study of sugar-added beverages and weight gain was a longitudinal study as well.2 The cross-sectional association she cited was from baseline data and not the major focus of that article, but it illustrates the risk in overinterpreting cross-sectional results. Children who were heavier at baseline drank less milk and more diet soda; we should not conclude from this that drinking more diet soda causes weight gain, nor that drinking less milk causes weight gain.