Milk is an essential nutritional staple in many people's daily lives, yet there are many misconceptions about its nutrition among the general public. This causes nutrients that should have been absorbed to be lost in vain, and in some cases, even has the opposite effect, harming the body! If you are one of them, it is very necessary to understand the following content!
I. The thicker the milk, the better
Some people believe that the thicker the milk, the more nutrients the body gets, which is unscientific.
So-called "overly thick milk" refers to adding more milk powder and less water to milk, making its concentration exceed the normal standard ratio. Others are afraid that fresh milk is too thin and add milk powder to it. If infants and young children often drink overly thick milk, it can cause diarrhea, constipation, loss of appetite, or even refusal to eat, and can also lead to acute hemorrhagic enteritis. This is because the organs of infants and young children are delicate and cannot withstand the burden and pressure.
II. The more sugar added, the better
It is a "common consensus" among many people that unsweetened milk is not easy to digest. Sugar is added to increase the calories supplied by carbohydrates, but it must be quantified. Generally, 5-8 grams of sugar are added per 100 ml of milk.
What kind of sugar is best to add to milk? Sucrose is the best choice. After sucrose enters the digestive tract, it is broken down by digestive juices into glucose, which is absorbed by the human body. Glucose has a low sweetness, and using too much of it can easily exceed the specified range.
There is also the question of when to add sugar. If sugar and milk are heated together, lysine in the milk will react with the sugar at high temperatures (80°C-100°C), producing a harmful substance called glycosylated lysine. This substance is not only absorbed by the body but is also harmful to health. Therefore, you should first let the boiled milk cool down to lukewarm (40°C-50°C) before adding the sugar to dissolve it.
III. Milk with chocolate
Some people think that since milk is a high-protein food and chocolate is an energy food, eating them together must be very beneficial. This is not the case. Liquid milk mixed with chocolate causes a chemical reaction between the calcium in the milk and the oxalic acid in the chocolate, forming "calcium oxalate." As a result, the originally nutritious calcium becomes a harmful substance to the human body, leading to calcium deficiency, diarrhea, delayed development in children and adolescents, dry hair, easy fractures, and an increased incidence of urinary tract stones.
IV. Taking medicine with milk to kill two birds with one stone
Some people believe that taking medicine with something nutritious is definitely beneficial, but this is extremely wrong. Milk can significantly affect the speed at which the human body absorbs drugs, causing the concentration of the drug in the blood to be significantly lower than in those who take the medicine without milk within the same period. Taking medicine with milk can also easily form a coating on the surface of the drug, causing chemical reactions between minerals such as calcium and magnesium in the milk and the drug to form insoluble substances. This not only reduces the efficacy of the drug but may also harm the body. Therefore, it is best not to drink milk for 1-2 hours before and after taking medicine.
V. Feeding infants with yogurt
Yogurt is a healthy drink that aids digestion, and some parents often feed it to their babies. However, the antibiotics produced by lactic acid bacteria in yogurt, although they can inhibit the growth of many pathogens, also destroy the growth conditions for beneficial normal flora in the human body and affect normal digestive function. Infants and young children with gastroenteritis and premature infants, if fed yogurt, may experience vomiting and necrotizing enteritis.
VI. Adding orange or lemon juice to milk for flavor
Adding orange or lemon juice to milk seems like a good idea, but in fact, both orange and lemon are high-in-fructose fruits. When fructose encounters the protein in milk, it will denature the protein, thereby reducing its nutritional value.
VII. Adding rice soup or congee to milk
Some people think that doing so can provide complementary nutrition. In fact, this practice is very unscientific. Milk contains vitamin A, while rice soup and congee are mainly starch-based. They contain lipoxidase, which will destroy vitamin A. Children, especially infants, if they have insufficient intake of vitamin A, will experience delayed development and be weak and sick. Therefore, even to supplement nutrition, the two should be eaten separately.
VIII. Milk must be boiled
Generally, the temperature required for milk pasteurization is not high. 3 minutes at 70°C or 6 minutes at 60°C is sufficient. If boiled, the temperature reaches 100°C, and the lactose in the milk will caramelize, and caramel can induce cancer. Secondly, after boiling, the calcium in the milk will precipitate as calcium phosphate, thereby reducing the nutritional value of the milk.
IX. Exposing bottled milk to sunlight to increase vitamin D
Some people learned from advertisements that to supplement calcium, you also need to supplement vitamin D, and sunbathing is a good way to get it. So they follow the advice and put bottled milk in the sun. In fact, this is得不偿失 (the gains do not make up for the losses). The milk may get some vitamin D, but it loses vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and vitamin C. These three nutrients will decompose in sunlight, causing them to be partially or completely lost. Moreover, the lactose in the milk will ferment in the sun, causing the milk to spoil.
X. Using condensed milk instead of milk
Condensed milk is a dairy product made by evaporating fresh milk to 2/5 of its original volume and then adding 40% sucrose and canning it. Some people, influenced by the idea that "all concentrated things are essence," use condensed milk instead of milk. This is obviously wrong. Condensed milk is too sweet and must be diluted with 5-8 times its volume of water. However, when the sweetness meets the requirement, the concentration of protein and fat is also half that of fresh milk. If water is added to the condensed milk to make the concentration of protein and fat close to that of fresh milk, the sugar content will be too high.