Glastonbury festival-goers made milk their healthy drink of choice, with nearly 10,000 gallons consumed during the music festival.
Special packaging (see image) was introduced to celebrate the festival and the boost to local Somerset dairy farmers.
According to the University of California at Los Angeles School of Dentistry, milk contains proteins essential for good oral health by preventing cavity-causing bacteria from sticking to tooth surfaces – essential when camping out for the marathon four days of festival fun.
The equivalent of 80,000 pints of whole and semi skimmed milk were supplied to the festival through dairy wholesalers Masqueraders, a registered charity who use the profits to help fund the carnivals they run in the Somerset area.
Run by Michael Eavis at Worthy Farm, Pilton, and himself a dairy producer, it is a key part of the Glastonbury festival ethos to support as many local businesses and charities as possible.
Sandy Wilkie, chairman of the Dairy Council, said: ‘Festival-goers know they need to keep themselves going during a marathon four days of partying, and have turned in great numbers to milk.
‘Four days under canvas, dancing and standing in the heat takes a lot out of the body, and milk give the right balance of nutrition and energy to keep them going.
‘Milk naturally contains electrolytes in amounts that help with rehydration. Alongside these it has protein for growth and repair of muscle, calcium which is important for bones, and range of B vitamins which help with release of energy from food and with brain function. And that’s just to name a few of its nutrients. Glastonbury shows how naturally people reach for a healthy pint wherever they are and whatever they are doing.’
