London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2025

Drinking more milk could help ageing brains stay healthy, study says

Drinking more milk could help ageing brains stay healthy, study says

As a society, we tend to think of milk as a drink that’s best enjoyed by kids.

And that’s not technically wrong: cow’s milk has the best nutritional benefits for growing children and, once kids grow into adults, they pretty much lose the capacity to digest the dairy drink properly.

There’s also a particular social awkwardness linked to drinking milk as adults instead of, say, a cup of tea, coffee or even a can of Coke.

But older adults might have more to gain from drinking milk than we think, according to a new study published by the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.

The research, conducted by a team of scientists at the University of Kansas (KU) Medical Center in the US, found that older adults who drink three cups of dairy milk every day have higher levels of a powerful antioxidant which can protect the brain from ageing and ageing-related diseases.

This antioxidant, called glutathione, or GSH, has the power to prevent our brain from being “corroded” by free radicals and other oxidants which are normally released when our brain converts nutrients into energy.

Even though it sounds horrifying, this is a natural process which the KU scientists describe as similar to “an old car that rusts” and which experts have linked to many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

As we age, levels of GHS in our brain decrease, and we gradually lose this ally protecting our brain.


What did the study find?


The scientists analysed 73 adults aged between 60 and 89 who typically consumed less than 1.5 servings of dairy per day and split them into two groups: one, whose milk intake did not change, and another who was asked to increase their milk consumption to three cups a day (of low-fat 1 per cent milk, specifically) for three months.

At the end of the experiment, scientists found that the group who drank three cups of dairy milk a day had experienced an average 5 per cent increase in GSH levels in their brains, and a 7 per cent increase of the antioxidant in the parietal region of their brains, while the group who had kept drinking less milk had experienced no change at all.

“It's exciting that something as simple as drinking milk can increase GSH because it’s not a drug, it’s just a simple food,” said Dr Debra Sullivan, professor and chair of the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition in the School of Health Professions at KU Medical Center and one of the authors on the study.

“And three cups a day is actually what is recommended by the US Dietary Guidelines”.


How much milk do we normally consume?


Three cups a day sounds like an awful lot of milk - even for the US, a country which has traditionally made drinking milk part of American life.

But consumption of milk, which peaked in 1945 in the US, has actually been declining in the country since the 1970s, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture, and the countries which consume the most dairy milk are now, in fact, in Europe.

According to World Population Review, the countries which consume the most milk in the world are Finland (430.76 kg/capita), Montenegro (349.21 kg/capita), the Netherlands (341.47 kg/capita), Sweden (341.23 kg/capita), Switzerland (318.69 kg/capita), Albania (303.72 kg/capita), Lithuania (295.46 kg/capita), Ireland (291.86 kg/capita), Kazakhstan (288.12 kg/capita) and Estonia (284.65 kg/capita).

It’s not by chance that there are so many consumers of milk in Europe: the dairy sector is the second-largest agricultural sector in the European Union.


Should we all start drinking more milk?


It’s important to note, at this point, that the KU study received funding by the US National Dairy Council, although researchers said they were not given any input or direction in their study.

In fact, the researchers said they were actually quite surprised by the study’s results.

“I was thinking fruits and vegetables would be highly correlated with antioxidants in the brain,” said study’s author In-Young Choi.

“But instead it was dairy, and among the dairy foods, it was milk. That was really surprising”.

So should we all start drinking more milk? The answer might be a bit more complicated than the American study would initially seem to suggest.

Dairy is often recommended to older people, as the high content of calcium in cow’s milk and other products is said to fortify bones and keep them healthy.

But studies have also found an increased risk of heart-related diseases in people consuming dairy against those sticking to a vegan diet and even an increased risk of bone fractures and mortality in relation to excessive milk consumption.

While plant-based alternatives can’t normally give you the same nutrients dairy milk can, you can easily find those in other vegan food, or reach for fortified plant-based milk on the supermarket’s shelf.

KU researchers said that more research is needed to figure out why exactly milk consumption was found to increase GSH levels in the brain, whether this improves brain functions and whether the level of fat in milk makes a difference at all.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
×