Sources linked above!
Do you remember being lectured about how good calcium is for your bones and teeth? It is! Did you know it does much more than that? Calcium plays an important role not just in keeping your bones strong, but also keeping your muscles functioning, and by helping your nerves send messages between the brain and the body. Potassium also plays a part in keeping your muscles and nerves healthy! It’s important to keep a balance of vitamins and minerals in our body as they all play a role in keeping our cells and organs working in harmony! One glass of milk has 30% of your daily calcium, and 10% of your daily potassium! That’s as much potassium as one small banana!
While it is definitely possible to get too much calcium, it’s hard to do with milk. In fact, milk has a balance of 18 different important nutrients that the body needs- without having too much of any of them! Calcium has so many benefits, it’s difficult to name them all, but the best one? Robert Heaney, MD., a renowned expert in bone biology and calcium nutrition says, “We’ve found that women with the highest dairy intake have an average weight gain of zero, and those with the lowest dairy intake gained a pound per year,” so YES! Milk can help you lose weight, with a catch- “Dairy will only help you lose weight if you have reduced calories. If you add it to what you eat all the time, it won’t make a whit of difference”. So if you’re looking at your diet to help with weight loss- make sure to get plenty of calcium, and drink your milk!
Potassium helps with fluid regulation- so it can help keep your hair shiny and help with dry skin. But that’s just on the surface! Potassium has many key roles in our body: it can help reduce blood pressure, decrease risk of stroke, and even help prevent kidney stones. Some studies have shown that only an estimated 2% of American adults are getting their daily value of potassium!
