Cow's milk is packed with a range of nutrients, including protein, calcium, zinc, vitamins A and B, and iodine.

The National Osteoporosis Society recommends that adults consume 800mg of calcium each day to protect their bones, while growing teenagers should have 1,000mg.

For many people, milk is as good a source as any of the mineral - one glass of milk contains 300mg of calcium. Only tinned pilchards and sardines eaten with their bones provide more calcium weight for weight than milk does.

Babies and children
The United Kingdom Food Standards Agency (FSA) gives the following advice about milk to the parents of infants and young children which we are happy to endorse:

Milk and dairy products are an important part of a child's diet. They are a good source of energy and protein, and contain a wide range of vitamins and minerals, particularly calcium, which growing children and young people need to build healthy bones and teeth.

Babies
Breast milk is the best drink for babies for the first year and beyond. The only alternative to breast milk in the first six months is infant formula. Choose an infant formula based on cows' milk unless you have been advised otherwise by your health professional. You should continue to give your baby breast milk or formula milk until he or she is at least a year old.

Ordinary full-fat milk isn't suitable as a drink until a baby is a year old. This is because it doesn't contain the right balance of nutrients to meet your baby's needs. Ordinary full-fat milks (from cows, goats or sheep) can be used for cooking in foods such as cheese sauce and custard from six months.

At about a year old, a switch can be made to full-fat milk as a drink.

Children
Children should drink whole milk until they are at least two years old because they may not get as many calories as they need from semi-skimmed milk.

After the age of two, children can gradually move to semi-skimmed milk as a main drink, as long as they are eating well and getting plenty of calories and nutrients from a varied diet.

Don't give skimmed or 1% milk to children until they're at least five years old because it's too low in calories. Skimmed milk contains only very small amounts of vitamin A, which children need.
Children between the ages of one and three need to have about 350mg of calcium a day. About 300ml milk (three fifths of a pint) would provide this.