Welcome to brain Stuff from house Stuff works dot com where smart happens him Marshall Brain with today's question, what is the big deal about milk and why do people treat it like some kind of miracle drink? Milk is the product of mammals. All female mammals make milk, and all mammal babies drink it. That is the definition of mammal nous. Milk is an amazing beverage. Human children routinely live on nothing but mother's milk for six months to a year, and many can go as long as two years.
When you consider that a two year old kid can walk and talk and argue with you, that's a pretty long period of time to go without ever touching solid food. In order for milk to sustain a child for two years, it has to be a perfect food. That is, it has to provide the child with every single nutrient a child needs in exactly the right proportions. Each mammal's milk is tuned to the needs of it's young so that it's perfect for that species. Milk can also provide all
the fluids of child needs. In environments where the water quality is poor, the mother's body acts as a filter, so the child receives germ free fluids. Take human milk as an example. Human milk contains everything that a human child needs. Human milk contains eight point five percent carbohydrates, mostly in the form of lactose to sugar. Human milk contains four point five percent fat. Human milk also contains all the essential fatty acids of child needs. Human milk
contains one point one percent protein. Human milk contains all the different amino acids that a child needs in the right proportions. Human milk contains all of the vitamins and minerals that the child needs. Minerals make up about point two percent of milk. Human milk also contains antibodies and other immune system components to protect the child whose immune system is still developing from disease. Human milk is eight seven percent water. The milks of different animals have different ratios.
For example, dolphin milk is fourteen percent fat and ten percent protein. Whale and ant eater milk are both more than twent fat. It turns out that cow's milk is fairly close to human milk in terms of its percentages. Cow's milk has a little less fat and a little less sugar and about three times more protein than human milk does. It's not perfect like human milk is in terms of vitamins, minerals, and antibodies, but it certainly is a good all around food for children to consume because
it is so balanced. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please send me an email at podcast at how stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, go to how stuff works dot com and be sure to check out the brain stuff blog on the house stuff works dot com home page. M