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Cow’s milk is a superb supply of calcium which, together with vitamin D, is required to construct robust, dense bones.
Milk additionally incorporates protein, the minerals phosphorus, potassium, zinc and iodine, and nutritional vitamins A, B2 (riboflavin) and B12 (cobalamin).
As a toddler I drank quite a lot of milk. It was delivered in pint bottles to our entrance steps every morning. I additionally drank a 3rd of a pint earlier than marching into class as a part of the free faculty milk program. I nonetheless love milk, which makes getting sufficient calcium simple.
After all, many individuals don’t drink milk for various causes. The excellent news is you may get all of the calcium and different vitamins you want from different meals.
What meals include calcium?
Dairy merchandise akin to cheese and yoghurt are wealthy in calcium, whereas non-dairy meals together with tofu, canned fish with bones, inexperienced leafy greens, nuts and seeds include various quantities.
Some meals are fortified with added calcium, together with some breakfast cereals and soy, rice, oat and nut “milks”. Verify their meals label vitamin info panels to see how a lot calcium they include.
Nonetheless, it’s tougher in your physique to soak up calcium from non-dairy meals. Though your physique does get higher at absorbing calcium from plant meals, and in addition when your whole calcium consumption is low, the general impact means for those who don’t have dairy meals, you could must eat extra meals that include calcium to maximise your bone well being.
Tofu is only one supply of calcium.
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How a lot calcium do you want?
Relying in your age and intercourse, the every day calcium necessities range from 360 milligrams per day to greater than 1,000 mg for teenagers and older girls.
One 250ml cup of cow’s milk incorporates about 300mg of calcium, which is equal to 1 commonplace serve. This identical quantity is present in:
200 grams of yoghurt
250 ml of calcium-fortified plant milks
100 grams of canned pink salmon with bones
100 grams of agency tofu
115 grams of almonds.
The really helpful variety of every day serves of dairy and non-dairy alternate options varies:
kids ought to have between 1 and three.5 serves a day, relying on their age and intercourse
girls aged 19 to 50 ought to have 2.5 serves a day, then 4 serves when aged over 50
males aged 19 to 70 ought to have 2.5 serves a day, then 3.5 serves when aged over 70.
Nonetheless, the common Australian consumption is simply 1.5 serves per day, with just one in ten attaining the suggestions.
Learn extra:
Soy, oat, almond, rice, coconut, dairy: which ‘milk’ is greatest for our well being?
What different vitamins do you want?
For those who don’t drink milk, the problem is getting sufficient vitamins to have a balanced weight loss program. Right here’s what you want and why.
Protein
Meals sources: meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, legumes, dried beans and tofu.
Wanted for progress and restore of cells and to make antibodies, enzymes and make particular transport proteins that carry chemical massages all through the physique.
Phosphorus
Meals sources: meat, poultry, seafood, nuts, seeds, wholegrains, dried beans and lentils.
Builds bone and enamel, helps progress and restore of cells, and is required for vitality manufacturing.
Complete grains are a supply of phosphorus, zinc and vitamin B12.
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Potassium
Meals sources: leafy inexperienced greens (spinach, silverbeet, kale), carrots, potatoes, candy potatoes, pumpkin, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, beans and peas, avocados, apples, oranges and bananas.
Wanted to activate cells and nerves. Maintains fluid stability and helps with muscle contraction and regulation of blood stress.
Zinc
Meals sources: lean meat, hen, fish, oysters, legumes, nuts, wholemeal and wholegrain merchandise.
Helps with wound therapeutic and the event of the immune system and different important capabilities within the physique, together with style and odor.
Legumes akin to chick peas include protein and zinc.
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Iodine
Meals sources: fish, prawns, different seafood, iodised salt and industrial breads.
Wanted for regular progress, mind improvement and utilized by the thyroid gland to make the hormone thyroxine, which is required for progress and metabolism.
Vitamin A
Meals sources: eggs, oily fish, nuts, seeds. (The physique may also make vitamin A from beta-carotene in orange and yellow greens and inexperienced leafy greens.)
Wanted for antibody manufacturing, upkeep of wholesome lungs and intestine, and for good imaginative and prescient.
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
Meals sources: wholegrain breads and cereals, egg white, leafy inexperienced greens, mushrooms, yeast spreads, meat.
Wanted to launch vitality from meals. Additionally helps wholesome eyesight and pores and skin.
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin)
Meals sources: meat, eggs and most meals of animal origin, some fortified plant milks and fortified yeast spreads (test the label).
Wanted to make crimson blood cells, DNA (your genetic code), myelin (which insulate nerves) and a few neurotransmitters wanted for mind perform.
Learn extra:
What’s a balanced weight loss program anyway?
When would possibly it’s essential to keep away from milk?
The reason why folks don’t drink milk vary from style, private preferences, animal welfare or environmental considerations. Or it could possibly be on account of well being situations or considerations about intolerance, allergy and pimples.
Lactose intolerance
Lactose is the principle carbohydrate in milk. It’s damaged down within the easy sugars by an enzyme within the small gut referred to as lactase.
Some individuals are born with out the lactase enzyme or their lactase ranges lower as they age. For these folks, consuming meals containing quite a lot of lactose means it passes undigested alongside the intestine and might set off signs akin to bloating, ache and diarrhoea.
Lactose intolerance could cause bloating and ache.
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Analysis reveals smalls quantities of lactose – as much as 15 grams every day – may be tolerated with out signs, particularly if unfold out over the day. A cup of cows milk incorporates about 16 grams of lactose, whereas a 200g tub of yoghurt incorporates 10g, and 40g cheddar cheese incorporates lower than 1g.
Cow’s milk allergy
Cow’s milk allergy happens in about 0.5-3% of 1 12 months olds. By age 5, about half are reported to have grown out of it, and 75% by adolescence. Nonetheless, one survey discovered 9% of pre-school kids had extreme allergy with anaphylaxis.
Signs of cow’s milk allergy embody hives, rash, cough, wheeze, vomiting, diarrhoea or swelling of the face.
Symptom severity varies, and might occur instantly or take a number of days to develop. If a response is extreme, name 000, as it may be a medical emergency.
Pimples
The whey protein in cow’s milk merchandise, except for cheese, triggers a rise in insulin, a hormone that transports blood sugar, which is launched into the blood stream.
In the meantime, milk’s casein protein triggers a rise in one other hormone, referred to as insulin-like progress issue (IGF), which influences progress.
These two reactions promote the manufacturing of hormones referred to as androgens, which may result in a worsening of pimples.
If this occurs to you, then keep away from milk, however preserve consuming onerous cheese, and eat different meals wealthy in calcium frequently as a substitute.
Whereas milk may be problematic for some folks, for many of us, ingesting milk moderately according to suggestion is the way in which to go.
Learn extra:
Is milk good for me, or ought to I ditch it?
Clare Collins is Laureate Professor in Diet and Dietetic on the College of Newcastle, NSW and a Hunter Medical Analysis Institute (HMRI) n affiliated researcher . She is a Nationwide Well being and Medical Analysis Council (NHMRC) Management Fellow and has acquired analysis grants from NHMRC, ARC, MRFF, HMRI, Diabetes Australia, Coronary heart Basis, Invoice and Melinda Gates Basis, nib basis, Rijk Zwaan Australia, WA Dept. Well being, Meat and Livestock Australia, and Better Charitable Basis. She has consulted to SHINE Australia, Novo Nordisk, High quality Bakers, the Sax Institute, Dietitians Australia and the ABC. She was a workforce member conducting systematic evaluations to tell the 2013 Australian Dietary Tips replace and the Coronary heart Basis proof evaluations on meat and dietary patterns.
