Extensive health benefits associated with milk consumption

Milk is designed by nature as a complete food. Its composition has evolved with each mammalian species to reflect the particular environmental conditions and evolutionary demands of the young of that species. Humans have exploited this valuable resource since the dawn of the agricultural revolution through domestication of animals, in particular the cow. We have developed the technology to preserve milk during times of abundance and this has resulted in an array of foods now common in the diets of most human cultures.

In addition to its base nutritional composition, research is revealing that there are a multitude of additional benefits of milk, undoubtedly many of which are as yet, undiscovered. Foremost in the public mind is the fact that milk is an excellent source of dietary calcium, essential in bone development and prevention of osteoporosis. Milk proteins are an excellent source of essential amino acids for human nutrition. In addition, milk proteins and their encrypted peptides have been associated with a range of unique biological functions, such as improved absorption and tissue delivery, gut health, optimum growth and maturation of intestinal cells, suppression of deleterious and pathogenic bacteria, elimination of bacterial and viral toxins, development of the immune system. Milk carbohydrates support the growth of beneficial gut flora and have been associated with a range of other positive health attributes.

This session will reveal the extensive health benefits associated with milk consumption, it will demonstrate how modern processing technologies can be exploited to maximise these benefits and it will seek to convince the consumer as to the scientific validity of these claims.

Source: http://www.teagasc.ie/events/2012/20120712.asp