Milk

Milk can be bought in many different varieties

Milk can be bought plain with full fat cream, half cream or with no cream at all. Full fat milk contains 3.25% of fat, semi-skimmed milk contains 1-2% fat and skimmed milk contains no fat at all, so if you are on a diet, take the skimmed milk option on your cereal and in your tea and coffee. The best way for small children to drink milk, is to flavour it with either chocolate, strawberry or banana syrup.

Milk is one of most commonly drunk beverages in the world

Because of its high level of calcium, which is needed in order to maintain healthy bone growth and also in maintaining good strong teeth, some kind of milk is drunk in virtually every country in the world. Without absorbing calcium in our bodies, we can develop rickets, which is very common in young children who do not drink milk from a early age. Osteoporosis in women in their later years is less likely if they drink adequate amounts of milk, and the calcium in the milk can also protect your teeth from tooth decay.

Milk is a good source of  Vitamin D and minerals such Phosphorous, Sodium and Potassium

These vitamins and minerals all play a major role in regulating your blood pressure. If  you were to drink a glass of milk and eat a banana as well, these two combined will give you a real boost of enery and can have the potential to increase vigor and vitality.

Did you know that drinking a cup of warm milk before you go to bed aids your chances of a good nights sleep? The warm milk helps soothes your nerves and helps your muscles relax, making it easier for you to fall asleep and stay asleep. Tryptophan, the same ingredient that makes everyone sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner, is present in milk. Another reason warm milk makes you sleepy is the few degrees that this drink might raise your body temperature is often enough to trigger the slowdown response we have on warm days. In addition there is anecdotal evidence that the warm milk reminds us of the time when we were infants, hence "sleep like a baby."

Another fact about milk is, if you suffer from heartburn at any time, drink a glass of plain milk, this will then help ease the inflammation of your food pipe which is the cause of heartburn. Did you know that by adding a touch of milk to a bowl of hot water when steaming your face, it helps open and clean the pores on your face?

Always keep milk in the fridge

When left unrefrigerated, milk tends to spoil very quickly, especially if the room turns warm during the course of the day. UHT milk or Long Life milk tends to last longer as the milk is heated until it reaches a point of 135 degrees for at least one second, this is done to kill of all bacteria in the milk and makes it last longer then normal fresh milk. UHT does not have the same nutrients value as fresh milk but still tastes great on cereal and in hot beverages.