All kinds of milk are considered healthy for you because they contain up to a third of the calcium needed per day for both adults and children. When you drink milk from cows, you are also getting a lot of protein and other nutrients, such as vitamin D, niacin, phosphorus, potassium, and riboflavin—all healthy substances for you. There are many benefits of drinking milk that you should know about so that you can incorporate milk as part of your healthy diet.

How Much Milk Do You Need Each Day?

According to experts, you need 500 mg of calcium per day if you are a child between the ages of 1 and 3. If you are a child between the ages of 4-8, you need to take in 700 mg of calcium daily. If you are older than 8, you need to take in about 1300 mg of calcium daily for the rest of your life.

For people older than 8, you need to drink at least 3 cups of fresh milk or milk equivalent every day. Low fat dairy products and skimmed milk are recommended for their less content of saturated fat or calories. A glass of whole milk (8 ounces) has about 146 calories and 8 grams of fat—5 grams are saturated fat. The same amount of 1% milk has only about 102 calories in it and 2 grams of saturated fat. Skimmed milk has no fat in it and contains only about 83 calories.

Benefits of Drinking Milk

1. Keep Osteoporosis Away

You need the calcium in milk in order to keep osteoporosis away. Osteoporosis involves loss of bone occurring especially in those who are middle-aged or older. Calcium is especially beneficial for older people and women who are more at risk for getting osteoporosis. If you fall into any of the above categories, you need 2.5-4 cups of milk or other dairy item daily. For your reference, each cup of fat-free milk contains about 300 mg of calcium.

2. Manage Your Weight

Managing your weight is also one of those benefits of drinking milk. According to research, taking in more calcium in your calorie-restricted diet can lessen the amount of body fat you have and can decrease fat and body weight in people who drink milk as part of a low calorie diet. It is also proved that participants in the research had a decreased likelihood of regaining the weight. You can enjoy this benefit better by choosing the fat-free kind of milk.

3. Promote Growth and Bodily Health

Milk helps the body grow. It gives us the calcium needed for bone growth and strength. It keeps our teeth healthy. Drinking milk can give us the calcium we need for this kind of health. It is good for both physical and mental health. Milk improves your intelligence and contains vitamins, potassium, calcium, and protein necessary for overall good health.

4. Aid in Digestion

One of the benefits of drinking milk is to keep us from eating too much junk food. Junk food can mess up the digestion and milk can counteract this. It gives us the nutrition we need for good gut health and helps the body break down the healthy nutrients.

5. Keep Your Skin Healthy

Our skin contains pores that get clogged with dust and pollution every day. This can wreck the skin, causing it to be rough and oily then contributing to acne. Instead of covering up blemishes with cosmetics, try drinking 2 to 3 glasses of milk each day. Milk has plenty of amino acids and lactic acid that keeps the skin smooth and vibrant. Just start to enjoy the benefits of drinking milk for beautiful skin free of blemishes.

6. Prevent Heart Disease

Milk can decrease the risk of heart disease. One study showed that those who drank more milk had a lesser number of heart attacks when compared to those who didn't drink much milk. The exact reason behind this is still not sure, but it seems to be evident that high calcium intake helps prevent heart disease. It may be because milk lowers LDL cholesterol and increases HDL cholesterol, making for a heart-healthy combination. The calcium in milk may also tie up the bad fats in the GI tract so they aren't absorbed by the body.

7. Prevent Cavities

Cavities can occur at any time in your life. The rich calcium content in milk helps a lot with teeth health. One of the benefits of drinking milk includes its ability to protect you from getting cavities. Milk can lower the acidity of the mouth which is partly why you get cavities in the first place.Milk also decreases the amount of plaque you get on your teeth, therefore reducing the number of cavities you get. However, drinking coffee containing milk all day long can increase the chances of getting cavities. Try drinking water between cups of coffee to rinse out the mouth for those who drink slowly.

8. Help With Type 2 Diabetes

Regularly drinking milk can lessen the risk of getting type-2 diabetes. One study of more than 37,000 women showed that those who drank dairy products had fewer cases of type 2 diabetes. This is especially true with dairy products that are low in fat. Another study revealed that low fat milk lessened the risk of type 2 diabetes in men. The reason for this effect is unclear but may be related to the fact that milk has a low glycemic index, therefore lowering blood glucose levels.

9. Fight Cancer

Milk seems to protect people from both colon cancerand breast cancer. In one study of 45,000 men, it was found that those who drank at least 1 ½ cups of milk daily had a 35% less chance of getting colon cancer when compared to those who drank less milk over the course of a week.It is believed that the fat in dairy and the presence of conjugated linoleic acid is what keeps colon cancer away. A similar study in women showed that breast cancer was less in those women who drank milk from childhood to adulthood.

10. Keep You Hydrated

You need to take in about 6-8 cups of some kind of liquid daily in order to stay hydrated. If we are dehydrated, we feel irritable and suffer from poor memory and low concentration. Milk can be one of the types of fluid you drink to stay hydrated along with so many healthful nutrients in it. Also, remember to drink fluids after exercising to keep hydrated, and milk is one of your best fluid options.

Which type of milk is the best? Click here to find out the nutrition content of different types of milk and choose the most suitable one.

As for Those Lactose-Intolerant

About 65% of adults are lactose intolerant. Lactose is a type of sugar found in dairy products like milk. If you are lactose intolerant, you can't have the benefits of drinking milk but can get nutrients in other ways, such as eating almonds, tofu and dark leafy greens. Try to take in foods high in vitamin D as well because milk normally has vitamin D in it. This means eating foods such as eggs, orange juice, and salmon.