Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Milk

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Well, maybe not everything, but there is a lot of good info here. With the controversies that are always storming about what is good for you and what will kill you, it is good to know that milk is probably one of the safer things you can consume and it is really good for you as well.

Growing up as a kid, we had milk on the table for all 3 meals. We had milk breaks in grammar school and milk was the only option with the school lunch program. Heck, I’m old enough that I remember the milkman bringing the milk to the back door. You only see that in old movies now! So I’m glad to find out that all that milk was actually good for me. And it still is-

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Does it build muscle?

Absolutely. In fact, milk is one of the best muscle foods on the planet. You see, the protein in milk is about 20 percent whey and 80 percent casein. Both are high-quality proteins, but whey is known as a “fast protein” because it’s quickly broken down into amino acids and absorbed into the bloodstream. That makes it a very good protein to consume after your workout. Casein, on the other hand, is digested more slowly. So it’s ideal for providing your body with a steady supply of smaller amounts of protein for a longer period of time — like between meals or while you sleep. Since milk provides both, one big glass gives your body an ideal combination of muscle-building proteins.

Skim or whole?

It depends on your taste. While you’ve probably always been told to drink reduced-fat milk, the majority of scientific studies show that drinking whole milk actually improves cholesterol levels, just not as much as drinking skim does. One recent exception: Danish researchers found that men who consumed a diet rich in whole milk experienced a slight increase in LDL cholesterol (six points). However, it’s worth noting that these men drank six 8-ounce glasses a day, an unusually high amount. Even so, their triglycerides — another marker of heart-disease risk — decreased by 22 percent.

The bottom line: Drinking two to three glasses of milk a day, whether it’s skim, 2 percent, or whole, lowers the likelihood of both heart attack and stroke — a finding confirmed by British scientists.

If you’re dieting, the lower-fat option is an easy way to save a few calories. When it comes to building muscle, though, whole milk may be your best choice: Scientists at the University of Texas medical branch in Galveston found that drinking whole milk after lifting weights boosted muscle protein synthesis — an indicator of muscle growth — 2.8 times more than drinking skim did.

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Read the whole article at MSN for answers to you questions about hormones, antibiotics and other conspiracy theories…