School-age children are in the stage of growth and development, and comprehensive and adequate nutrition is the material guarantee for their normal growth and development.
Milk and dairy products are highly nutritious and not only provide high-quality protein, but are also a good source of calcium. Adequate intake of milk and dairy products is beneficial to human health, especially muscular and skeletal health, and children and adolescents need to consume adequate amounts of milk and dairy products every day.
The nutritional value of milk
Milk includes cow's milk, goat's milk, etc., and it is cow's milk that people drink more. The protein content in fresh milk is about 2.8%~3.3%, which is mainly composed of casein, whey protein and lactoglobulin; The fat content was 3.0%~5.0%, among which, there were more unsaturated fatty acids (oleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid); Carbohydrates account for 3.4%~7.4%, and the main component is lactose. In addition, milk contains fat-soluble vitamins A and D, as well as B vitamins and vitamin C.
The fat particles contained in fresh milk are relatively small and highly emulsified, which is easy to be digested and absorbed, with an absorption rate of 97%. The fat in milk is not only responsible for its good flavor, but also a carrier of various fat-soluble vitamins. Milk is also a good source of calcium in natural foods, with a calcium content of 104 mg/100 ml and a high absorption rate, for students in the growth and development period, adequate intake of milk can help bone development and height growth.
How students should choose their milk
There are many varieties of milk, and it is generally recommended that students choose pure milk and yogurt to help supplement protein and calcium to meet the needs of physical development and height growth. In addition to pure milk and yogurt, there are a variety of milk and dairy products with commercial gimmicks in supermarkets, how should students and parents choose? Here is a brief introduction to the common ones.
Breakfast milk is rich in ingredients, in addition to fresh milk, there are white sugar, flavors, stabilizers, and enhancers of certain minerals. Compared with pure milk, the protein content of breakfast milk is slightly lower, the protein content of 100ml breakfast milk is 2~2.5 grams, and the sugar content is higher.
Some people due to the lack of lactase in the body, or age, drugs and other reasons lead to a decrease in lactase activity, drinking pure milk will cause bloating, diarrhea and other symptoms of lactose intolerance, Shuhua milk is suitable for this kind of people to drink. Compared to regular milk, there is almost no lactose in soothing milk, because lactase is used to degrade lactose during its production. In addition, people who are lactose intolerant can also choose yogurt.
The fat content of whole milk is about 3%, the fat content of low-fat milk is about 1%, and the fat content of skim milk is only 0.1%~0.2%. Many people think that eating more fat will make people gain weight, so milk should be skimmed. In fact, the fat in milk is the carrier of various fat-soluble vitamins, and if you choose skim milk, you lose the opportunity to supplement these fat-soluble vitamins.
Whole milk is rich in fat-soluble vitamins, calcium, protein, etc., which are necessary for students in the growth and development period. Students are advised to choose whole milk such as plain milk or fresh milk as much as possible; If you are overweight or obese, you can choose low-fat milk or skim milk.
How much milk should be enough each day
The Dietary Guidelines for School-age Children in China (2022) recommends that children and adolescents consume more than 300 ml of liquid milk or equivalent amounts of dairy products per day. 300 ml of liquid milk is equivalent to 1.5 cartons of plain milk (200 ml/box), or 3 cartons of yoghurt (100 g/box), or 3 slices of cheese (16 g/slic), or 1.5 sachets of milk powder (25 g/bag). As a student, you can choose to drink a glass of pure milk (200~250ml) for breakfast, add a meal or add a glass of yogurt (100g) 1 hour before bedtime to ensure milk intake. If the conditions are limited, students can also choose to drink milk powder, cheese, milk skin, and milk tablets are also high-quality choices for dairy products.
Common dairy myths
When sugar is added when milk is boiled, a harmful substance is formed at high temperatures. If you want to drink sweet milk, you can add sugar after the milk has cooled; Since chocolate is rich in oxalic acid, adding chocolate when boiling milk will produce calcium oxalate, reducing the body's utilization rate of calcium.
Many people like to boil milk for a few minutes before drinking it, for fear that the bacteria in it will not be completely killed. In fact, there are two kinds of pure milk on the market, one is pasteurized milk, which is sterilized at a low temperature of 65 °C to remove harmful bacteria, which better preserves the nutrition and flavor in the milk; The other is sterilized milk, which uses 135 °C high temperature instantaneous sterilization method, and the milk will lose a certain amount of nutrients. Both types of milk have been stripped of harmful bacteria. If you want to drink warm milk, we only need to boil it when we heat the milk, not for a long time.
After the milk is heated and cooled, there is often a layer of milk skin on the surface, and its main component is fat, and many people will choose to remove this layer of milk skin to prevent fat. However, removing the skin not only removes fat, but also loses fat-soluble vitamins.
Source: Student Health News