The belief that milk worsens a cough is a very persistent myth that has never been scientifically proven.

What happens when you drink milk is that the milk can feel slimy and possibly oily in the mouth.
This is likely how the myth started in the first place, as it might briefly feel like the mucus has worsened.
However, if you drink milk while you have a cold, you might feel extra mucus specifically in your mouth and throat from the milk, but this sensation disappears shortly after you’ve finished drinking and returns to how your mouth and throat felt before.

Milk itself does not contain anything that would increase mucus production in the body.
On the contrary, milk is a nutritious drink that can even help you recover from a cold faster, depending on your overall nutrient intake during the illness.

If you have a cold that lasts 10 days, it will still last 10 days even if you drink milk every day.

Keep in mind that a cold will persist until the bacteria or viruses are cleared from your body.
You won’t recover from a cold faster than your body can handle it, and no medication can magically remove a cough or solve the problem.
However, you can make it easier for yourself by using remedies that help loosen mucus so it’s easier to cough up.

Red juices are an excellent way to loosen mucus.
Strawberry juice, blackcurrant juice, and other red juices have a beneficial effect on mucus and coughing.
The sugar and the red color in the juice help break down mucus.

Always avoid cough medicine if you have a cough, especially those that contain cough-suppressing ingredients!
Even though coughing can be bothersome, it’s the body’s way of cleaning itself from infections.
The mucus your body produces acts as a cleaning agent that captures and removes bacteria so they can leave the body.
When you cough, it’s because of mucus production in the lungs, which is working to clean the lungs of infections.

Avoiding coughing when your body needs to cough risks making the infection worse and, in the worst-case scenario, causing pneumonia.
Using cough medicine that suppresses the cough reflex can therefore be dangerous, as the medicine doesn’t eliminate the infection but rather inhibits the body’s natural defense mechanism to clear it out.

Even cough medicines without cough-suppressing agents increase the risk of pneumonia because they can create an imbalance in mucus production, potentially making the mucus less effective at fighting infections.
Therefore, it’s better to let your body work through the issue on its own.
After all, your body handles attacks from foreign and harmful substances and does an excellent job of it.

Ensuring you get all the nutrients your body needs will help you recover faster.
If you’re not good at eating healthily and getting all the nutrients your body needs, at least try to eat a varied diet while you’re sick.
No medicine can replace proper nutrition and the body’s immune system in the fight against infections!

I strongly recommend avoiding cough medicine, but if you really must take it, make sure it doesn’t contain cough-suppressing ingredients!

A glass of warm milk with a spoonful of honey is sweet and delicious and can alleviate symptoms while helping you recover faster, thanks to the fact that both milk and honey contain important nutrients your body needs.

This article is meant both to warn those who try to avoid coughing and to bring some comfort to those who enjoy dairy products but have avoided them during colds. Now you can confidently continue your dairy habits even when you have a cough!