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Fortunately, we don’t have to.
Milk is our first food, and provides the basic building blocks for good health, with lifelong benefits. People know that the calcium in milk helps to build and maintain strong bones and teeth. Milk and dairy products are the richest source of calcium.
But milk is a natural nutrient power house, providing not just calcium but also many vitamins and minerals essential for healthy bodies. It is an excellent source of high quality protein, vital for brain development and the growth and repair of muscle tissue. Milk provides vitamin B12 to build red blood cells and transport oxygen from lungs to working muscles, and vitamin B2 which facilitates the conversion of food into energy, and is essential in the development of the nervous system.
Milk delivers vitamin A to help maintain normal vision and skin. Milk provides calcium for our bones and for body cell energy, potassium to help regulate fluid balance and blood pressure, niacin to keep enzymes functioning normally, and carbohydrate for energy. Plus vitamin B1, vitamin B6, folate, iodine, magnesium, zinc – and more.
Research has identified more than 100 different components in milk. Evidence is mounting that consumption of milk and dairy products may reduce blood pressure, dental cavities and the risk of cancer, while enhancing bone strength and immunity.
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At the level of basic nutrition: how much milk – and especially calcium – do we need in a healthy daily diet? Take three: a glass of milk, a small pot of yoghurt, and a matchbox sized piece of cheese. More or less, according to age. The milk may be fat free, low fat, or whole milk, the calorie levels differ but the minerals, the B vitamins and vitamin C remain the same. There is less vitamin A, D and E in low-fat milk, but slightly more calcium.
Milk is a renewable resource: supplied by living animals that produce milk over and over again, in an efficient processing of water and vegetable matter. And importantly, in a consumer aware age, this live food is provided most abundantly from healthy animals, be they cows, buffalo, sheep or goats.
Milk is such an everyday thing, we can easily take it for granted. But ensuring a safe supply of quality milk takes dedication and effort right through the milk value chain. From the dairy farmer to the dairy company, distributor to retailer.
From farm advisors, veterinarians, scientists, researchers and farm suppliers. Dairy farmers operate within climatic, economic and geographically diverse environments. DeLaval supports them by delivering complete milking solutions to help them gain better control over their milk production. The end result should always be the same; provide safe and wholesome food. |
