Milk is a common drink for children and adults. Drinking more milk can help with calcium, boosting immunity in children and preventing osteoporosis in adults. But did you know? Apart from milk, yoghurt can also be a calcium supplement! But which is healthier and more nutritious?
On TV, we often see that milk is good for children’s health; yoghurt can help children grow faster, but which is better, milk or yoghurt?
Milk is the most nutritious, easily digested and absorbed, inexpensive and easy to consume. It is the most “near-perfect food”, known as “white blood”, and is the ideal natural food. The chemical composition of milk is very rich in minerals, and in addition to the well-known calcium, it contains a lot of phosphorus, iron, zinc, copper, manganese and molybdenum.
Yoghurt is made from animal milk fermented with lactic acid bacteria and consumed by humans for thousands of years, making it popular with people of all ages. Yoghurt is a good source of protein and promotes intestinal motility.
Milk vs yoghurt
Many people believe that milk is more nutritious after fermentation into yoghurt, but there is not much difference between their nutritional value. So, what is the difference between yoghurt and milk? The most significant difference between yoghurt and milk is that lactic acid bacteria are added to yoghurt to break down the lactose in milk into lactic acid.
Compared to milk, yoghurt is easier to digest and absorb, making it easier to utilise its nutrients. Most of the sugar contained in milk is lactose. Still, some adults lack lactase in their digestive juices, which affects the digestion, absorption and utilisation of lactose, causing stomach discomfort and even diarrhoea after drinking milk, known as “lactose intolerance”.
Both milk and yoghurt contain many nutrients and are very beneficial to the body, but the argument is different for children!
Children have a limited need for yoghurt, and even if it has a high nutritional value, they don’t necessarily need it. The consequences of drinking too much can only add to the burden on the gut. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid yoghurt for children under one year old, as the baby’s digestion is not yet perfected before the age of one. Milk contains more protein and salt than breast milk and powdered formula, which can easily cause allergies and aggravate the kidney burden of children. Instead, keep the amount of yoghurt children over a one-year-old drink to 125g per day.
Also, many people think that the milk they drink nowadays is an industrial product that must have a lot of “ingredients” added to it, so they don’t want their children to consume too many additives. There are two common types of milk nowadays, fresh milk and room temperature milk. Fresh milk is mostly pasteurised. This method eliminates the harmful bacteria in the milk and maintains the nutrition and taste of the milk. There are also some probiotics. Therefore, the storage time is not long. It is usually seven days.
We now know that children can drink milk after the age of one, that fresh milk is slightly more nutritious, and that yoghurt is not better than milk. But don’t just let your child drink milk.
But don’t just let your child drink milk. Children need many different kinds of nutrients as they develop and grow to have a healthy body and grow up fast.
