So is Milk healthy or health risk?

It's weired that we are drink milk that's been made by other mammals bodies to feed their young.

Aristotale thought that milk was twice cooked blood.

It's a power food essential for growth and healthy bones, but others says it causes cancer and heart disease.

We drink milk because of its super nutritious. Its rich in fat, protein and sugar and in micro nutrients like Calcium and Vitamin D.

Humans are the only animals who continue to drink milk after we are weaned off our mothers milk and there is biological reason for this. When we are babies, our bodies make an enzyme called lactase, that hels us digest lactose, a naturally occurring sugar in our mother's milk. But around 70% humans loose that enzyme and the ability to digest lactose when they get older. It's mostly Northern Europeans who have farmed cattle for thousands of years and evolved to tolerate dairy milk with the help of genetic mutation. Whereas 95% of Asians haven't adapted to tolerate dairy milk. This means drinking milk will give them stomach cramps, diarrhoea, and nausea. It also makes them feel bloated.

There's also a proven link between milk consumption and cardiovascular disease because of the saturated fat content of milk. But you would have to drink one litre of milk everyday to have an increased risk of heart disease. Some cited risk of cancer because of the harmones in cow's milk as we milk the cattle when they are pregnant. But scientists say that the level of oestrogen is too low to cause health effects in humans.

What we know that milk production is harmful to the planet and causes animal suffering.

If you drink a glass of milk everyday, you add 229 kilograms to your annual greenhouse gas emissions every year. That's the same as driving a petrol car for 941 kilometres. Your milk consumption also uses 45,733 litres of water which is equivalent to 703 showers lasting eight minutes.

Half a pint of milk a day provides 350 milligrams of calcium for healthy bone development in children between the ages of one and three. But when it comes to adults reasearchers aren't sure if cow's milk can help keep bones healthy beyond childhood.

So, can we get milk's nutrients elsewhere?

Plant-based milks use significantly less energy, land and water. So they have much lower environmental impact than dairy milk. Most of non-dairy milks fail to supplement nutritions in comparision to dairy. Only soy milk can compare to cow's milk. Other types needs to be artificially enriched to have similar levels of calcium and vitamins.

Scientists are also working towards creating lab-made milk.

Having said all this, just remember that including dairy in our diet can help us get some of the vital nutrients that we need. But we should keep in mind that eating a well-balanced diet that includes lot of leafy greens and nuts can also give you the calcium and protein we need.