Milk is the most single food that has almost all the
nutrient or can also be recognized as food that has the most nutrients as
compared to the other food. Which is why from the ancient times naturally it is
the staples food for babies. This also explain why bedridden patient who cannot
tolerate food well, usually the first oral nutrition supplement given is milk
(1).
However, the issues with milk always is controversial.
There are study saying that as adult we do not have to consume milk every day,
while there are also study suggesting that milk should be consumed every day
(1). Down below we list out reasons why you should consider your consumption of
milk, whether to drink it every day or not!
Milk reduced obesity risk
Well, people always equate full fat-dairy products for
gaining weight however, finding of the research found somewhat contrary. Full-fat dairy products may actually be better than low-fat
variety for keeping off weight! According to Walter Willet, Harvard School of Public
Health nutrition expert, the idea that all fats are bad emerged in the 1950s
and 1960s, when saturated fat was linked to high cholesterol and increased
heart disease risk (2).
What happened was that, when saturated fat is reduced in
food products or in people’s diet, it is often replaced with sugar or
carbohydrates. The problem with this is that it takes more carbohydrates to
make we feel full and unlike fat carbohydrates does not promote satiety (the
longer feeling of fullness) thus making us consume more food (2). Another study
saying that, the more sugar we consume the more we are craving for its, its
like addiction (3).
The kind of milk that we have nowadays
Since the demand of high fat milk is low, most of food
manufacturer has lower down their amount of fat, which is replaced with sugars.
Which explained why if you looked thoroughly on food label for low fat milk,
the chance is it has higher sugar content. Thus, when it comes to milk, it is
very tricky. Some more we have various kind of milk nowadays from animal-based
milk to plant-based milk.
How to choose?
When it comes to milk, if you want to drink milk as a
means to avoid you from eating more food, as it promote satiety, then choose
full cream milk, however you need to monitor your calorie intake from other
source of food and choose milk with low sugar. However, according to Vasanthi
Malik of Harvard School of Public Health, as we often get our fat from other
source of food, thus it is best if we consume low fat milk, but still…need to
check on the sugar content. Bottom
line, when it comes to milk, choose the one that has lowest sugar, saturated
fat, and trans-fat. As these are the culprit behind various health complication.
As for plant-based milk, it is not necessarily healthier
than cow’s milk, for example it might be that it has higher sugar content as
well. However, they are the better choice if your primary concern is
environmental impact, since soy milk, almond milk, oat milk, and rice milk
produce less carbon and greenhouse gas emission than cow’s milk.
Pro and cons of milk
Again, the decision on whether to impart milk on the
daily diet is still debatable though it is in the guideline of food pyramid and
even healthy plate. The consumption of milk everyday is still depending on your
dietary intake and body weight. Let say if you have normal weight, thus
consuming one glass of milk per day is enough, however if you are underweight
you may consume more than one. Maybe two glass of milk. But again, as mentioned
above, while you are getting your good fat from milk it is very important to
reduce other bad fat from your diet such as deep fried food, food that has high
trans-fat which is bad for you and also food with high saturated fat.
The actual scenario is in Malaysia many people are
overweight and obese thus, perhaps we should look at the suggestion to actually
drink milk everyday again. What we are trying to emphasized is if you already
get your calcium from other sources of food such as anchovies, sardine, almond,
kale and many other foods, then probably you have already got the 1000 mg of
calcium that you need daily!
Fact Check (5,6)!
Saturated fat is the kind of fat that is usually high in
animal-based food and in some plant-based food such as coconut milk (santan).
Excessive intake associates with raised blood cholesterol and increases risk of
heart disease. Anddd
do you know that coconut milk (santan) does not have cholesterol like what been
claimed by almost all coconut milk products? It really is cholesterol free it just that it has
high saturated fat!
Trans fat is ‘man made’ fat usually derived from the hydrogenation process. It raises your bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and lower your good (HDL) cholesterol levels. Eating trans fats increases your risk of developing heart disease and stroke. It is also associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Doughnuts, cookies, crackers, muffins, pies, fast foods and cakes are examples of foods that may contain trans-fat.
References