A glass of milk consists of all the important nutrition that our body needs and best of all it tastes downright delicious. Either consumed as a chilled milkshake or combined with coffee to make a delicious caffeine-infused frappe, consumed warm with some cereal and cornflakes or cold with some rose syrup- it is versatile and filling in every avatar. However, milk drinkers are split into two teams- the ones who prefer buffalo milk and the one who prefer cow’s milk. While they might seem identical, they both have considerable differences in its nutritive properties, texture and flavour. Here’s what’s really different between cow and buffalo milk and what you should include in your diet.

Fat content

Buffalo milk is known to have 100 percent more fat content than Cow’s milk, making it heavier and thicker in consistency than cow’s milk, but with lower cholesterol levels. When compared with Buffalo milk, Cow’s milk is known to have a lower fat content. This results in the milk being less thick in consistency than buffalo milk. Lower fat content makes it easy for the tummy to process the milk, keeping things light. It also helps in combating obesity in children. However, this also results in an increase in cholesterol levels.

Nutrition

Buffalo milk is known to be richer in calcium and phosphorous than Cow’s milk. Calcium is necessary for bone development in the body. It is also richer in protein than cow’s milk, Along with that it is a good source of minerals like magnesium which helps in improving energy, sleep, and maintain blood sugar and hormone balance. Cow's milk on the other hand is rich in  vitamins, specifically vitamin B that is helpful for brain development as well as vitamin D that helps in increasing metabolism and burning of fats.

Shelf life

Cow’s milk can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days before it goes bad. Buffalo milk on the other hand, due to a high peroxide enzyme activity, last considerably longer than cow’s milk, and can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

Cooking

Milk is not only consumed as a drink, but also used to make an array of delicacies and the type of milk you use plays a major role in the final outcome of the dish. Buffalo milk, due to its abundant fat content is known to be thicker and creamier than cow’s milk, which makes it ideal to make common dairy products such as paneer, khoya and creamy yoghurt or curd, along with kheer and kulfi. Cow’s milk on the other hand, due to its lighter nature can also make yoghurt and cheese, but it won’t turn out as creamy as the one using Buffalo milk. Cow’s milk is used to prepare chenna that is required to make rasgullas, among some other sweets like rasmalai, and sandesh.

Bottomline: What should you pick?

The decision of picking the perfect milk depends entirely on what your body and health needs. If you’re someone who’s looking to lose weight, you could try consuming cow’s milk, whereas if you’re someone who wants to put on weight, you could switch to Buffalo milk. Also if you already are suffering from high cholesterol levels, you should switch to Buffalo milk to keep the limits in check. If you’re unaware of your dietary preference, you could simply give both of them a try and see what your body finds comfortable. In the end both the variations are healthy and are a welcome addition to your body’s nutrition.