Ministry Wants To Make Thais Taller

[inquisitive]

Ok, there are actually a few issues here. First of all, there is the question as to why it is better to be taller. Does the Ministry even attempt to explain this? Or is that simply the bias of a single person or group of persons? I know a lot of very tall, very stupid, and very uncoordinated people. Frankly, being tall doesn't seem to help them at all. I knew a fellow in my college days that was 7'1'' tall. He played center on the college basketball team. He was so dumb and uncoordinated that they finally told him that after the tip-off he was to go to his assigned position under the basket and wait for someone to fed him the ball. From there his height made a basket nearly assured, but until the moment he was fed, the team basically was operating one member short. My point is that tall in and of itself is not necessarily a desirable trait, and if the Ministry wants to change the height of a nation, they sure should have some explainable reason for doing so.

Next comes the issue of the milk itself. There have been some old studies that show that populations that drank milk gained a bit of height over similar populations that did not. There are also a ton of studies that show that drinking milk is one of the very things you can do for your weight and heart, maybe even worse than gobbling cheeseburgers. Oh, I left out that milk consumption also increases chances of stroke. Significantly. This is due to the enormous amount of cholesterol and fat included in milk. It's postulated that the calcium and possibly some other ingredients are what do the "good" things. So we most likely have a situation where one part of the milk is healthy and other parts are almost poisonous in the long term.

Now the American Indians learned a long time ago that chewing on the inside of willow bark could help with pain. That's because it contained a form of aspirin even though there wasn't even a name for that chemical at the time. But even that primitive culture didn't advocate eating the whole tree! Even they could figure out that eating the wood and leaves and roots would be counter-productive and probably fatal. This is thousands of years later. Wouldn't you think that the MINISTER OF HEALTH, for goodness sake, would understand the same principle? Why not commission a five year study to determine what parts of cow excretions are "good" for us and what parts are bad? Maybe if the kids are given yogurt instead of milk they will get the desired effect without the future heart attacks, obesity, and strokes? Maybe all that's needed is to take the fat out. But golly, don't you think these things should be addressed before changing the diets of millions and millions of people? If that's too complicated a request, perhaps it's time to get someone up to the job. You know, like someone that got the job because of their knowledge of health and science instead of how to get votes for the winning party?

[retell]

so thats another way off telling "go buy more milk my stocks are dropping"

[khunken]

This looks like it's straight out of the Plodprasop 'science' manual.

Having a correlation with drinking milk and height is not proof. I suspect there is a similar or greater correlation with a healthy diet & height.

If they focus on unsweetened skimmed milk it would help redress the unbalanced diet that too many Thais exist on &, worse, feed their children on.

[RBOP]

Thai fresh milk tastes really bad in comparison to fresh milk in Canada. Every time we go to Canada my 11 yr old cant drink enough of it. I guess its the type of cow and what the cow eats. Refrigeration helps too.

[Thai at Heart]

No. Don't do it. I am 192cm and I get tangled in vendor stall electrical wires and crack my head on doorframes. The public medical bills will skyrocket. Keep em all short and in the safe zone.

sent from my mobile

Indeed, just imagine if Thais were on average 1.70

Head injuries from walking in Bangkok would overwhelm the hospitals.

[rubberduck]

Easiest way to make Thais taller is to give them all a pair of platform shoes.....

Do you really see all the Sirichas, Narupongs and Sarawuts walk on THIS ???

[Cats4ever]

Good to know that the West has provided LOS with so many talented nutritional scientists...........

[transam]

Breaking News. ....................They cracked it.

[chainarong]

Don't worry about all that hocus pocus that milk increases hieght. I saw the size of thais being a problem long ago and that is why I created my special instant formular. Simply rub it on the skin and garanteed to increase hieght by 25 cm per year. Perfectly safe to use with conjuction whitening creams. I will have you looking like a farang in no time.

Chooka . Question: why do they want to look like a farang, I don't go around in Oz tryin to look like a Thai. Is it a direction from Dubai?

[OzMick]

I have twin step-daughters (genetically Thai) who were as tall or taller than the boys in their class, and much taller than the girls. Their diet was basically Thai but with higher protein levels than usual for most (assumption) with some western additions such as Jam, Vegemite, bread/toast and ,yes, I encouraged flavoured milk as their morning take-to-school snack. At 16 they were a head taller than their mother.

There was a free milk school program some years ago, and occasionally the wife would arrive back from the school with a tray of UHT milk cartons. Is this still in existence, or was it banned as being the idea of some other political party, now to be re-instated as a gift from PTP?

How tall was their Father or grandparents?

Never received any comments about their father's height, though many about how tall the girl's were. Maternal grandparents were not unusually tall.

We often got suggestions that the girls got their height from me (6'2") from those not aware of the relationship.

[khunPer]

And many or most East Asian people often lack the digestive enzyme, lactase, and cannot digestive milk. The healthy calcium from milk is a myth.

A good English article by Alister Breede about the subject is found here:

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Calcium-Myth-Exploded!&id=6904008

[sabai-dee-man]

My missus says the Health minister's probably just bought a dairy farm, that's all. LMAO

Sabai Dee Man.

[chainarong]

Makes Thais taller! Sounds like a tall story.

The Thais are already much taller compared with 40 years or so ago when the Thai School Milk Programme started. By and large the programme, which was a joint venture with Australian Dairies, has been very successful, One has only to look around and compare the heights of typical Burmese and Cambodians who were not brought up on free school milk.

I worked for Thai Dairy here and a Malaysian Dairy in Sabah supplying the school milk programme for the whole of Malaysia. The dairy herds in Thailand and East Malaysia are well looked after and produce good quantities of milk at a reasonable quality. In West Malaysia and Southern Thailand where the herds are predominately looked after by Muslims farmers who are not very careful with their cows well being, the quality is often very poor containing too many bacteria on delivery to the processing plant. One big problem is that pasteurised milk is produced by the farmer's Co-operatives and sent to the schools, however when the schools are closed the Government leans heavily on the UHT Milk producing factories to take the milk from them at a higher price than using imported milk powder. If they increase the volume three fold to make Thai Giants, this will cause much problem if the Government insists on the UHT milk factories taking the pasteurised milk when the schools are closed. To be fair the pasteurised school milk should be packed by the Commercial Dairies and supplied to the schools, however that would exclude "The Usual Suspects" from getting there cut.

You mean to say they can't MILK the system???

[chooka]

Thai fresh milk tastes really bad in comparison to fresh milk in Canada. Every time we go to Canada my 11 yr old cant drink enough of it. I guess its the type of cow and what the cow eats. Refrigeration helps too.

The milk in Thailand is very watery and doesn't even taste like real milk

[bitcoinbob]

few interesting stats, and you try to figure out what the thais are up to.

1,shorter people are healthy than taller people greater longevity of shorter people appeared in the Bulletin of the
World Health Organization in 1992. Since then we have presented
substantial findings showing that shorter, smaller people live longer.
The reason for this is that bigger bodies have more cells and these
cells are subject to replacement due to wear or damage.

2. at the end of world war 2 the japs and chinese were the same avg. height, americans bought cows to jap feed them u.s. style milk the japs are on avg 4- 6 inches taller than avg chinese now. chinese 10 years ago bought a 100,000 cow herd from iowa to ship to china.american breed and feed cows read growth hormones they shoot up the cows with. what do you think they are up too?

[rubberduck]

Did the Public Health Ministry actually clearly explains WHY they want this ? I can't find it in the article, some important details might be missing.

Maybe the ministers statement on World Milk Day is just an 'agreement' between him and the (inter)national diary lobby ? (already the Health Department chief suggested to drink lots of milk) Or is it something related to a 'national inferiority complex' and the wish to become a part of the modern world ?

Anyway, this goverments plan sounds just as impulsive and unprofessional as always. Making Thailand Asia's Long People Hub or something like that.

[dmcguire70]

<deleted> Are they going to use one of those stretching racks that you find in a dungeon? Lol

[chooka]

Don't worry about all that hocus pocus that milk increases hieght. I saw the size of thais being a problem long ago and that is why I created my special instant formular. Simply rub it on the skin and garanteed to increase hieght by 25 cm per year. Perfectly safe to use with conjuction whitening creams. I will have you looking like a farang in no time.

Chooka . Question: why do they want to look like a farang, I don't go around in Oz tryin to look like a Thai. Is it a direction from Dubai?

Who knows, they want to be taller with white skin and have cosmetic surgery to alter thier facial features like remove the thai nose in replace of the more pointy farang style and alter the cheek bones. Maybe the envy the luk krungs with thier fair skin, hieght and bone structures,

[MilesCh]

100% agree with those who have professed avoiding milk is the best bet -- at the most drink fortified low to non-fat milk when older than x-years -- probably thought of as about 15, but most likely best at 7 or below. Sounds s though the western dairy industry is attempting to gain strength in Thailand -- let them sell at the poison food establishments such as 7/11, not to mothers sending their kids off to school.

[MaxYakov]

Thais should worry more about expanding their brain power. What mindless Thai would even suggest the preposterous notion that they should "breed" bigger Thais?

Bigger?! I thought they were shooting for height. The unintended consequences will be that they probably will achieve 'bigger' with chronic heart problems. They're doing that now. Witness the Thais at your local fast food joint (not to mention the farangs).

Sent from my grubby and fairly immobile MacBook Pro

Edited June 2, 2013 by MaxYakov

[MaxYakov]

Height increase in 10 years? Takes tens of thousands and a different climate, not to mention genes, don't it?

Surely the quickest way is to get in more whiteys to dilute the gene pool a bit more.

Great idea! Make every day 'White-boy Day'! I could use a few hundred more (at least) of those every year ....

Sent from my grubby, decrepit, immobile MacBook Pro

[timewilltell]

Well drinking some milk might provide some needed calcium, one glass after each meal as an adult - I don't think so. Perhaps eating a balanced meal with protein and vegetables and fruit every day instead of sticks of fried pork/chicken, buckets of rice and washing up water soup would help. Cut out the added sugar and soda pop drinks, KFC, Pizza and McDonalds and stop sending these idiot politicians on jolly trips and giving them Elite cards to play golf, stop the corruption and put the money into education and improving social services - smarter, taller Thais would result eventually - rather like Singaporeans I guess. Just a better government needed.

[SunsetT]

The average Thai does not taste milk again after they leave the tit.

I've seen Thai children in farang land grow to over 6ft tall due to the western diet and milk at schools.

In reality this will not happen in Thailand because of the logistics of the dairy industry.

CCC

Soya milk is a far better alternative, they also provide kids with soya milk at the local fee paying school. Don't know about government schools but would it would be a start.

Cartons of UHT cows milk are also provided by private schools, and they give out cases of it free at the end of term.

.....Talking of UHT,surely this has been promoted before as the minimarts, 7/11s, are full of small cartons of many brands of milk, albeit UHT, many fortified with calcium, vitamins, etc. So plenty of milk is being drunk by Thais already......the big emphasis seems to be on calcium.

Dont trust the fresh milk being sold to be fresh either. I once left a little 'Dutch Mill' milk in the bottom of a bottle in my fridge while I went away for a month. When I returned it looked OK and smelled OK and when I tried it, it tasted fine. It must also be UHT, and when you check the label, it actually says 'made from fresh milk'.

With all that Western junk food they now eat, I dont think they need worry about Thais getting taller. Im an ardent 'bird watcher', and, trust me, those sexy brown legs are getting longer and fatter everyday.

[Thai at Heart]

The average Thai does not taste milk again after they leave the tit.

I've seen Thai children in farang land grow to over 6ft tall due to the western diet and milk at schools.

In reality this will not happen in Thailand because of the logistics of the dairy industry.

CCC

Soya milk is a far better alternative, they also provide kids with soya milk at the local fee paying school. Don't know about government schools but would it would be a start.

Cartons of UHT cows milk are also provided by private schools, and they give out cases of it free at the end of term.

.....Talking of UHT,surely this has been promoted before as the minimarts, 7/11s, are full of small cartons of many brands of milk, albeit UHT, many fortified with calcium, vitamins, etc. So plenty of milk is being drunk by Thais already......the big emphasis seems to be on calcium.

Dont trust the fresh milk being sold to be fresh either. I once left a little 'Dutch Mill' milk in the bottom of a bottle in my fridge while I went away for a month. When I returned it looked OK and smelled OK and when I tried it, it tasted fine. It must also be UHT, and when you check the label, it actually says 'made from fresh milk'.

With all that Western junk food they now eat, I dont think they need worry about Thais getting taller. Im an ardent 'bird watcher', and, trust me, those sexy brown legs are getting longer and fatter everyday.

The problem with this plethora of brands is that only a tiny percentage of them are sugar free

[Mudcrab]

Height increase in 10 years? Takes tens of thousands and a different climate, not to mention genes, don't it?

Surely the quickest way is to get in more whiteys to dilute the gene pool a bit more.

Not at all. Do some research on the height of the English a few hundred years ago. Much shorter than now. Seem to recall Henry the Eighth was a giant of a man in his times....maybe five foot six or so. I remember going to the Trip To Jerusalem (admittedly vaguely due to the copious amounts of booze ingested) in Nottingham castle. Bumping my head everywhere. My sister lives in an old farmhouse in Staffordshire and I'm forever hitting my head in door arches etc. when I visit.

[lounger]

casual reading suggests that most food is suspect these days. Organic apparantly not. But here is a summary as I understand it:

Goats milk is better for humans than cows milk (something to do with the size of the fat globules making goats easily digested)

Soy loads up estrogen so testosterone levels fall and we all become jaffas ( seedless).

Cows milk is so treated it is now heavily affected by chemicals ( first to neutralise the mastitis then to neutralise the mastitis killing chemical)

Growth hormone is fed to livestock so eating the appropriate foods will stimulate growth even in 2nd generation.

Cows are fed with chemicals to boost milk production, which works but doesn't increase the buttermilk so the milk becomes thinner with increased volume. I dont think a growth hormone is involved here.

Orange juice contains fructose which is bad for you and should be taken in moderation.

Thailand stopped school milk a number of years ago diverting the money to concreting earth roads.

Thai milk does not come from these brahman cows we see plodding around rural areas. It comes from Friesians etc like the rest of the world.

What other idiotic posts have I read today? enough for now Maybe someone could add the gene connection and other good posts such as lactose intolerance in asians for example to my list

[Scully]

The average Thai does not taste milk again after they leave the tit.

I've seen Thai children in farang land grow to over 6ft tall due to the western diet and milk at schools.

In reality this will not happen in Thailand because of the logistics of the dairy industry.

CCC

Soya milk is a far better alternative, they also provide kids with soya milk at the local fee paying school. Don't know about government schools but would it would be a start.

Have you tried to buy Lactasoy without a shovel of sugar in it? Even the low sugar version has too much.

v-soy has sugar free brands, just give them a can of coke and keep the quiet.

[ABCer]

Am I allowed to inquire what is the height of the Minister? Anybody knows?

If Thais are to be made taller who is going to be the maker?

Never mind the breast feeding...

[Salapoo]

This looks like it's straight out of the Plodprasop 'science' manual.

He'll be telling people to lay their children lengthways infront of fans set to full-blast as the fast moving air-current will result in them growing taller.

[goatfarmer]

Unfortunately for the minister, height is actually more closely correlated with maternal nutrition than with childhood nutrition (where childhood nutrition is adequate). It would be more effective to promote healthy food for women who plan on becoming pregnant than to force feed the children cow juice.

Height is also related to the thyroid status which affects bone growth:

"Thyroid hormone (T3) is essential for normal skeletal development.

Childhood hypothyroidism results in growth arrest, delayed bone

age, epiphyseal dysgenesis and short stature (1-3)."

http://www.hotthyroidology.com/editorial_129.html

and this:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14516933

You can bet that most short-<deleted> have a thyroid issue.