Milk is perhaps the most comprehensively nutritious food of all. Give children half to one pint of milk a day, depending on the quality of the rest of their diet. Under-twos need 'whole' milk; two- to five-year-olds can gradually change to semi-skimmed if they are good eaters and have a varied diet.
Children who don't have milk may not be getting enough riboflavin, and without milk it is hard for children to get enough calcium. About one child in ten is calcium-short. Research reveals close links between bone density in later life and the amount of milk consumed in childhood. One- to three-year-olds need 350mg calcium a day; four- to six-year-olds need 450mg (almost 3/4 pint of milk).
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