You may want to thank your parents for forcing you to drink a glass of milk with every meal. As it turns out, it could be nature’s Gatorade, the unexpected gold standard of hydration.
Water and sports drinks are lauded as hydrating powerhouses, while milk is associated with strong bones, but researchers in Scotland found whole-fat and skimmed milks can do both.
The team found the two milks contain significantly higher concentrations of natural electrolytes like potassium, sodium, magnesium and calcium than water.
These play an important role in regulating nerve signals, blood pressure, blood sugar and muscle contractions.
The more liquids you drink, the faster they get absorbed into the bloodstream, where they dilute the body’s own fluids and hydrate you.
These fluids can pass quickly, however, and the sodium in milk acts like a sponge and holds onto water in the body, resulting less fluid loss during urination.
Milk also has a higher osmolality, meaning it flows into the bloodstream easier than plain water molecules would. This leads to more effective hydration.
So, by filling your Stanley Cup with milk instead of H2O, you’re more likely to be hydrated faster and for longer.
Researchers have discovered milk may be even more hydrating than water due to its essential nutrients (stock image)
Your browser does not support iframes.
The study, published in 2019 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, looked at 12 young adults who drank water, milk and other sugary beverages.
They found milk permeate – a byproduct of milk filtration that consists of lactose and minerals – maintained a positive fluid balance for much longer and a higher beverage hydration index compared to water or other carbohydrate-based drinks like sports and energy drinks.
Melissa Majumdar, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, who was not involved in the study, told CNN: ‘This study tells us much of what we already knew: Electrolytes — like sodium and potassium — contribute to better hydration, while calories in beverages result in slower gastric emptying and therefore slower release of urination.’
While exercising, the body sheds many essential nutrients like sodium and potassium to fuel the muscles and keep you sustained as you work out.
Post-exercise hydration, therefore, is vital for your body to recover those lost nutrients.
The body loses essential nutrients like potassium and sodium during exercise, so drinking milk may help replenish them (stock image)
Health experts still recommend drinking at least eight glasses of water a day (stock image)
To avoid injury, milk supplies the body with about 330mg of calcium, which strengthens bones, decreasing the risk of a stress fracture, and maintains muscle movement and nerve signal transmission.
It’s also been shown to maintain a normal heartrate, which keeps the heart from working too hard during a workout.
For athletes, milk could provide a healthier option than drinks like Gatorade or Powerade, which can contain added sugars and artificial dyes. These have been linked to behavioral problems, cancer, diabetes and obesity.
Instead, milk contains no added sugar and won’t cause a blood sugar spike – risk factors for diabetes.
For those who are lactose-intolerant or vegan, non-dairy milks can also have larger water concentrations, though they have fewer nutrients like calcium than regular cows’ milk.
Share or comment on this article:
Surprising nutrient-packed drink is better for you than water