Health Article: Milk and Benefits of Milk
Despite their children begging and pleading for soda or fruit juice, many parents never serve anything in addition to milk with dinner. "Drink milk", they say. "It's good for you".As adults, we're all well-acquainted with this idea. Milk is good for us. But beyond this vague notion and the familiar milk-mustache media campaign, confusion clouds the specifics of exactly why that is. What about milk is good for us? How to really improve our health? Experts share the milk trick and dive into the details that make this drink a dietary staple for millions of Americans
Benefits of Milk
According to the National Dairy Council, milk is filled with nine essential nutrients that benefit our health:
1 - Calcium: Builds healthy bones and teeth; keeps the bone mass.
2 - Protein: works as a source of energy and the building and repair of muscle tissue.
3 - Potassium: Helps support a healthy blood pressure.
4 - Phosphorus: helps strengthen bones and electricity production.
5 - Vitamin D: Helps maintain bones.
6 - Vitamin B12: Maintains healthy red blood cells and nerve tissue.
7 - Vitamin A: Maintains the immune system; helps maintain normal vision and skin.
8 - Riboflavin (B2): Converts food into energy.
9 - Niacin: Metabolism of sugars and fatty acids.
In other words, milk packs quite a punch when it comes to nutrition—and you don't have to drink a gallon to collect the benefits, the National Dairy Council says. In fact, the council says that only an 8-ounce glass of milk has the same amount of vitamin d that you get from 3.5 ounces of cooked salmon, as much calcium as 2 1/4 cups of broccoli, as much potassium as a small banana, as much vitamin A as two baby carrots and as much phosphorus as a cup of kidney beans!
Milk and Weight Lose
All these nutrients contribute to our overall health and wellness, and they can even play a role in weight loss, said Dr. Brian Roy, an associate professor of applied health sciences at Canada's Brock University.
Dr. Roy published a study on the impact of milk on the body after exercise. While he admits there's some controversy surrounding milk's influence on weight loss and body fat in general, he also agree with the recent studies have shown that when milk was consumed by young adults after weight training, they lost more body fat and gained more muscle mass than those who had consumed different drinks that contained the same energy
"The important message from this is that it is probably important to include more servings of milk as part of your daily diet," said Dr. Roy. "However, simply adding more milk to your diet will add to your total energy intake. So, when you add more milk to your diet, it is probably more efficient if it replaces other sources of energy from your diet, to ensure you are not consuming excess calories."