Folk wisdom in India has always encouraged the daily drinking of milk, at any age. However, in recent years, an increasing number of adults are rejecting the health benefits of milk, citing various research studies. While adults can still do away with drinking milk, denying milk to a growing child is a recipe for disaster (unless the child is lactose intolerant). Milk offers various health benefits and is indispensable to the health, growth and nutrition of an infant, a child or a teenager. Doctors and research both corroborate this opinion. Once a child is weaned away from the mother’s milk, a significant part of his/her diet must be milk.
But why is dairy milk (cow or buffalo’s milk) so beneficial? What is so special about cow’s milk that one cannot get the same nutrition from other sources? The answer is simple. Nature has picked and chosen various ingredients of a healthy diet and packed them all in one food. So this way, you don’t have to consume a variety of foods to get the same combination of nutrients. In fact, milk is 87 percent water and just 13 percent solids. But these solids pack a punch.
One cup of whole milk contains:
This means, cow’s milk is a complete meal in itself. It’s quite common for farmers and the labour class in North-India to drink a glass of milk for breakfast and head out to work. For children, this combination of nutrients is indispensable for good health, normal growth and prevention of various ailments such as rickets.
Despite the health benefits of milk, do not overdo it. Excessive milk consumption can interfere with iron absorption and make your child anaemic. Also, the fat from milk can make your child obese and childhood obesity opens a Pandora’s Box of health issues in adulthood. Switch to low-fat dairy milk and restrict the quantity to 1 or 2 glasses per day.
It’s interesting how much of the religious rituals and traditional sweets in India are all based on milk. This is because the health-benefits of cow’s milk are eternal and no amount of research can deny that. Further, till 50 years ago, milk was procured from small-time dairy farmers and mass commercialization of dairy was absent. Such organic milk from grass-fed cows was rich in beneficial fatty-acids and devoid of pesticides, urea, preservatives, toxins, hormones, antibiotics, GMOs and fertilizers, traces of which can be found in branded milks of today.
So, as far as possible, try to purchase organic milk from local dairy farmers. You can garnish the milk with healthy foods like seeds and nuts, wheat, rice or lentil flour, or make sweet dishes based on milk. Adults anyway consume milk this way.
But for children, drinking 2 glasses of milk up to a certain age, and then 1 glass of milk thereafter should be a mandatory part of their diet. Do not compromise on this or give in to your child’s tantrums. You can flavour the milk in healthy ways. He/she will enjoy the milk, and you will have the satisfaction of watching your child grow up into a healthy adult.
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