How Much Milk Do You Really Need Every Day?

Most people think that milk contains calcium, so it is necessary to strengthen bones. But apart from calcium, many nutrients are found in milk, due to which milk is considered a complete meal in itself. Milk is not only the best source of calcium, but our body easily absorbs the calcium found in milk. Apart from calcium, vitamin D, protein, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin B12 and zinc are also found in milk.

• Calcium is essential for strengthening bones and teeth
• Potassium plays an important role in maintaining blood pressure
• Vitamin D prevents the risk of rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults
• Vitamin B12 helps in maintaining the central nervous system
• Vitamin A is helpful in making the immune system healthy
• Zinc also helps in strengthening immunity and keeping cold and cough away

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How much milk you should drink daily depends on both your body's needs and age. Let us know how much milk should be consumed daily according to age:

From birth to 1 year
From birth to 6 months, doctors recommend to feed only mother's milk to the baby because during this time the child needs more nutrition for development which can be obtained only from the mother's breast milk. Even after 6 months, cow's milk should not be given to the baby until he is 1 year old because it can cause many harm to him. Therefore, along with feeding solid things to a child from 6 months to 1 year, mother's milk or formula milk should be given.

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From 1 to 3 years
Children from 1 to 3 years need about 350 milligrams of calcium daily and hence children of this age should be fed about 100 to 200 ml of milk daily. Apart from milk, children should also be given milk products like curd and cheese.

4-10 years
Children between 4 and 10 years need about 450 to 500 milligrams of calcium daily and for this it is necessary to feed them 200 to 300 milliliters of milk along with dairy products.

11 to 18 years
During this period, children's physical and mental development happens very fast, in which milk plays an important role. Therefore, adolescent children up to 18 years should be fed about 3 cups of milk daily.

Adults need this much milk
According to the report of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), an adult Indian i.e. a person above 18 years of age needs 600 milligrams of calcium daily i.e. about 2 glasses of milk. However, about 200 milliliters i.s. 1 glass of milk or 1 bowl of curd daily is enough for the daily calcium requirement of adults. The rest of the calcium requirement is fulfilled by legumes, pulses, beans, vegetables, cereals etc. which are considered an important part of traditional Indian food.

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Risk of cancer due to drinking too much milk
The calcium present in milk may reduce the risk of osteoporosis, but if too much milk is consumed, then there is a risk of ovarian cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. A study conducted on about 5 lakh women in America revealed that women who drink 3 glasses of milk daily had a higher risk of ovarian or uterine cancer than those women who drank less milk. At the same time, men who drink 2 glasses or more of milk daily had twice the risk of prostate cancer as compared to men who drank less milk.

So drinking milk is necessary for strong bones and overall health. So do not stop drinking milk but drink it in limited quantities.

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Drinking milk daily provides the body with essential nutrients, such as calcium, vitamin D, and protein, which help build strong bones and teeth. In general, an adult is advised to drink about 250-500 ml of milk daily, while for children the amount is according to their age and growth needs. Young children need about 500-700 ml of milk to ensure proper physical and mental development. Drinking too much milk can cause digestive problems, so it is important to maintain a balance.