Milk is one of those foods, like eggs, that no one can seem to come to an agreement on whether it’s worth drinking.
Cons include the fact that it comes from cow udders for baby cows and there really is no compelling reason we started stealing their milk in the first place, that most milk comes from big factory cows and is full of growth hormones and the like and that it gives some people an itchy throat or a stomachache if they lack enzymes to properly digest it. However, pros include the fact that it isn’t soymilk, milkshakes are really just ice and sugar without it and milk does have a lot of minerals or vitamins or other stuff that supposedly makes your bones not break. Also, Nesquik exists.
Interestingly, though, a new study reveals that milk may have another big tick-mark in its pros column- preventing diabetes in certain portions of the population. A study published this month in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found a link between drinking milk and the prevention of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes risk among teens who drank milk electively- and were likely to carry the habit to adulthood- was found to be around 43% lower.
Of course, milk can appear to be higher in calories and fat than plain water or diet soda, and many would be reluctant to begin chugging it for that reason. Although the drink is certainly not calorie free, researchers found that the milk-drinkers weighed, on average, four lbs. less than their dairy-shunning counterparts.
The Harvard study included 37,000 women and a second, larger study of 440,000 people found that using lowfat dairy as a protein source in lieu of meat could reduce diabetes risk by 17%.