Milk for cough: what you should know about it

Milk is not recommended for coughs, because milk mucilages the mucous membranes even more instead of relieving the cough. Breast milk, coconut milk and vegetable milk are better alternatives, just like warm tea.

Milk for cough does not help as well as tea

Warm milk with honey is often used as a home remedy for coughs and colds. However, it is only recommended to a limited extent.

• Why milk works for coughs is thanks to honey. This has an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effect. However, only if the milk is at maximum lukewarm, because heated honey turns into sugar and loses its healing properties.
• Animal milk also consists of animal proteins that are harder for the body to digest than vegetable. Due to the longer digestive work, the body can not take care of the cough and healing is delayed.
• If the honey is drunk with warm tea, it also helps better than milk. Animal dairy products mucilage the bronchi and thus make it difficult to cough up. Germs cannot dissolve and the cough persists.
• If you drink tea instead of milk, you can use herbal teas that help with cough and respiratory diseases. Bronchial teas or simple herbal teas such as sage, chamomile or peppermint for colds are tried and tested varieties.
• Vegetable milk types also do no harm to the body when coughing and cold, but also have no special healing effects when drunk alone. Coconut milk is an exception.

Heal cough naturally

If a baby has a cold, you can give him breast milk, because it contains everything the body needs to heal. If it is older children or adults, coconut milk is a very good alternative.

• Coconut milk contains the short-chain fatty acids that are also present in breast milk and strengthen the immune system. They are immediately available for the body to heal without having to do digestive work.
• A spoonful of coconut oil also has the positive healing effect several times a day, because coconut oil and coconut milk, like honey, are natural antibiotics that drive bacteria and viruses away while supporting the body's defenses.
• Fruits with a lot of vitamin C also help with cough and bronchial infections because they catch and bind the radicals released by the cold in the body again. This quickly improves.
• If you prefer hot lemon or tea with lemon as a home remedy, you should not warm the water or tea more than lukewarm. The active ingredients of the citrus fruit are otherwise destroyed by boiling water.
• Ginger for cough or cold or onion juice are also helpful. You can eat ginger pure or drink it with water or tea and lemon.
• You make onion juice by cutting onions, pouring them into a glass with honey, closing it and letting it stand until juice has formed. Take a spoonful of juice several times a day until the cough subsides.
• After about two days you should prepare new onion juice, because onions generally attract bacteria, including those from the air and the environment, not just those in the body. Always keep the glass closed.
• Alternatively, you can eat onions fresh and raw. Nothing lets them breathe freely again so quickly. A little piece is enough to make the mucous membranes flow and clear the nose and throat.

In the next practical tip you will learn what else works against mucus in the throat.

Video tip: home remedies for colds with ginger and turmeric