Who doesn’t love Milo? A chocolate malt powder produced by Nestle, which mixed with milk and water, will turn Milo into a tasty drink. In recent years there are some viral articles emphasizing about how Milo is dangerous for health especially for children because it contains some properties that could endanger their development. Well, so far there are no scientific evidences to support those claims and until now those articles are still considered as hoax. However, when it comes to the health benefits of drinking Milo, there are more articles or clinical studies that will support that opinion.
What Is Milo?
As mentioned briefly above, Milo is a chocolate malt powder produced by Nestle. Originally Milo was developed in Sidney, Australia by Thomas Mayne. He is a well-known Australia’s industrial chemist and also a famous food researcher and Milo is one of the products he successfully invested because until today, Milo is still number one product of Nestle that is successfully marketed in many countries. Especially today there are more variations of Milo from the famous chocolate malt powder, premixed beverage, breakfast’s cereal and snack bar. However, still the chocolate malt powder with its signature green package and Milo’s legendary logo is the most popular one.
Nutritional Values of Milo
Milo is very tasty, so there are a lot of people are consuming it without asking about the nutrient contents in Milo. From the package of Milo you could find the list of nutrients such as several vitamins and minerals. Milo is packed with vitamin C, vitamin D and a group of vitamin B. Besides that, Milo is also rich of minerals such as calcium and iron. Those combinations make Milo an excellent source of energy strongly required by children during development stage. To learn more about the health benefits of Milo, the list below will tell you about the brief list of Milo for human health.
- Contains Calcium to Promote Strong Bones
It is a common knowledge that the main health benefits of calcium are to promote strong bones and optimize the growth. However, Milo has one more benefit, which is vitamin D. When vitamin D is combined with calcium the result is excellent. A lot of studies have found out that the number of children who cannot fulfill their daily intake of calcium is still high and drinking Milo may help covering the lack.
- Milo Is Packed with Iron
Aside from calcium, the other mineral found in Milo is iron. When it comes to the health benefits of iron the list could be endless. Iron is essential in the formulation of red blood cells that will lead to optimal oxygen distribution and nutrient absorption. Iron is essential to produce new cells especially for children in their development stage.
- Excellent Source of Energy
Milo is excellent source of energy because in Milo you could find fat, carbohydrate and sugar in one package. However, parents shouldn’t worry about the side effects of those things because they have been formulated in the right amount just to meet the daily intake required by children.
- Supports Immunity System
Vitamin C benefits and a group of vitamin B found in Milo are the reasons why Milo could support the immunity system. Vitamin C is one of the potent antioxidants that could help body fighting some infections. So, just by giving Milo to your kids, you could reduce the risk of your children of being infected by viral infection.
- Contains Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate is not something you should avoid because there are a lot of health benefits of carbohydrate, especially for children. Carbohydrate is the source of energy strongly required by children during their golden age.
- Supports Children’s Development
When it comes to children’s development, it is not only about their height or their weight but also about their intelligence. Milo is packed with a lot of nutrients that supports the optimal development of both Children’s physical and intelligence growth.
- Helps Optimizing the Nutrients Absorption
Some nutrients like calcium and iron cannot be self-produced by human body. They should be obtained through foods. Unfortunately, due to some factors not all nutrients consumed through foods are optimally absorbed. However, vitamin C in Milo will ensure the optimal nutrients absorption.
- Nourished Drink for Healthy Diet
Sometimes it is difficult for parents to find a healthy diet solution for their children. Some of the diet they love are contains unhealthy stuff while healthy stuffs are mostly hated by the children. However, Milo is one of the nourished drinks for healthy diet and also loved by children.
- Tasty and Healthy Breakfast Option
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Unfortunately, due to some factors is difficult for parents to prepare healthy and tasty breakfast for their children. However, Milo is nourished drink which packed with nutrients enough to fulfill the basic daily intake of children.
- Excellent Snack Ideas
Right now there are a lot of options of products made by Milo. Parents would never out of ideas when it comes to healthy and tasty snacks because there are a lot of snack recipes made by Milo they could try to create.
Cautions of Drinking Milo
Asides from all the amazing nutritional values and health benefits of Milo as mentioned above, still there are some cautions you should know when drinking too much Milo. It is true that as tasty beverage, you could drink it whenever you want in any form from hot Milo up to Milo Ice, so sometimes it is very difficult to control it. That is why learning about the caution will give you more reasons to not drink it too much.
- Milo contains chocolate. One of the health benefits of dark chocolate is an excellent source of antioxidants. However, some studies also stated that dark chocolate when it is mixed with dairy products such as milk may reduce its effectiveness. So, if your purpose of drinking Milo is for its antioxidants then it will disappoint you.
- Milo is an excellent source of energy; that is why it is highly recommended to be consumed by children during development stage because they need more energy to grow than the adults. So, be careful because Milo contains fat which is beneficial as energy when it is properly used but when the energy is not used, the fat will be stored in skin cells and condition like obesity and weight gain will affect you.
- Milo also contains sugar. You must be surprised about how high the sugar content found in Milo is. Sugar is another energy source but when it is entering your body in high dosage could endanger your body metabolism.
- One of the ingredients used in Milo is extract of nut to improve the flavor. If you or your kids are allergic to nut is better to avoid Milo at all cost to avoid the worst side effect.
Each kid is unique and he or she may needs nutrients in different scale as well. However, Milo is specifically formulated to match with the energy requirement required by most children. So, no matter how viral the articles about how bad Milo is for your children but as parents you don’t need to worry because this product is already in the marketplace for years and there are always researches and studies conducted to support Milo as the number one healthy beverage for children.