Why adults can't drink milk: we separate facts from myths

There are many myths around milk. Someone claims that a person needs it to obtain beneficial microorganisms. Others believe that drinking milk in adulthood is harmful. Consider several popular misconceptions and at the same time find out where they came from.

Popular Milk Myths

Both negative and positive properties of milk are often overestimated. For example, the following misconceptions about this product are very popular:

• a glass of milk contains the daily rate of calcium - actually not. One glass contains about a third of the daily norm. However, the rate of calcium can be obtained from other products. A lot of calcium is found in legumes and sesame seeds, as well as fish and mushrooms;
• milk on the market is healthier than milk in the store - this is not entirely true. You do not know the conditions under which market milk was extracted and how healthy the cow was. Since this milk does not undergo additional processing, it may contain more dangerous bacteria. Therefore, it is recommended to boil it before use;
  

  Homemade milk may be more dangerous than milk from the store.

• it’s harmful for adults to drink milk - the most interesting of all the myths about this product. In fact, milk is better absorbed in childhood, when the body needs to grow. But many adults consume milk, and the harm to their health has not been proven.

Milk intolerance by adults

The last error is worth discussing in more detail. After all, this is really important - if earlier we were always told that drinking milk is good, now people are convinced of the opposite. In fact, the benefits of milk, of course, are: it contains calcium, vitamins D and B12, phosphorus. However, the calories in milk come mainly from sugar, which makes the benefits of this product not so straightforward.

But the delusion that milk is harmful to adults appeared for a reason - for many people - this is indeed so. It depends on the individual lactose intolerance. Milk is absorbed in the body by the enzyme lactase. With age, in some people, the amount of lactase in the body decreases greatly, due to which lactose ceases to be normally absorbed.

Some adults cannot tolerate milk

Video: the benefits or harms of milk for adults

Chinese intolerance to milk

The Chinese practically do not drink milk. Because of this, even just buying it at a Chinese store can be a problem. And this is due to the same lactose intolerance. Moreover, the roots of this intolerance are historical. Scientists have proven that before all nations could not absorb milk in adulthood. But over time, those involved in cattle breeding developed a lactose tolerance gene. Since dairy products formed the basis of their diet, the body simply needed to absorb lactose in order to survive. Others have not developed this gene.So it turns out that among some peoples today lactose intolerance is more common than among others.

Among the Chinese, approximately 85% of the adult population cannot tolerate milk. But they are not champions in this area - over 90% of the inhabitants of Peru also can not use this product.

Milk is a healthy product, but you can still replace it if you wish. Nevertheless, if you normally absorb lactose, then there is no reason to refuse milk. The main thing is to buy a quality product in which there will be no harmful substances.