As School Milk Week starts, Health Correspondent Barry Nelson asks if we need to drink more milk to protect our health or if it's possible to get enough calcium from other sources.

A THIRD of British schoolchildren consume fewer than the recommended three daily servings of dairy foods, which means they are storing up trouble for the future.

The three recommended servings of dairy foods can be an average glass of semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, a small pot of low-fat yoghurt and a match-box sized piece of cheese. But perhaps the easiest way to get the recommended servings is by grabbing a few quick glasses of milk.

That's why schoolchildren were given free milk from the Second World War until 1973. After that, milk for pupils was subsidised by the EU.

That is still the case, and the EU is part-funding this year's School Milk Week, which runs all next week. During the week, 200 primary schools across England and Wales will receive free milk for the day - that's 50,000 cartons.

Every primary school child aged between five and 11 is eligible for up to 250ml of EU subsidised milk at school each day. Parents make a contribution towards the cost, which varies from area to area but on average it's approximately 14p per day, or around £8 a term.

Last year hundreds of gallons of milk and fridges were given away to North-East primary schools after The Northern Echo teamed up with the Milk Development Council and ACC Milk during National School Milk Week. Children at High Coniscliffe CE Primary School were given cartons of organic milk by local producers Acorn Dairy.

Edmund Proffitt, processing manager at the Dairy Industry Association, which is organising School Milk Week with the Milk Development Council, says: ''Milk is one of the most nutritionally complete foods available.

''Teachers have noticed that if children skip breakfast, they find it difficult to concentrate and take part in lessons - but a carton of milk at break time can help to make sure that a child is refreshed and ready for those lessons.''

Milk is one of the most nutritionally complete foods available because it contains essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and protein.

Milk helps the development of healthy teeth and bones in young children through its calcium content, but it also contains protein to build and repair muscle tissue, vitamin B12 to build red blood cells and carry oxygen from the lungs to working muscles, and vitamin B2 (riboflavin) for converting food into energy.

In addition, there is niacin to enable certain enzymes to function normally, vitamin A to help maintain normal vision and skin, phosphorus for bones and to generate energy in the body's cells, and potassium to help regulate the body's fluid balance and maintain normal blood pressure. It also contains vitamins B1 (thiamin) and B6, folate, iodine, magnesium and zinc.

The UK guzzles more than six million tonnes of milk a year, which means this country is ranked fourth in the world milk league table, behind the US, Brazil and Germany. But consumption here has been declining.

This is a cause for concern for The Dairy Council, which is supporting School Milk Week, and stressing that a carton of milk at break-time provides about 50 per cent of a child's daily calcium requirements.

Dr Michelle McKinley, nutrition manager at The Dairy Council, says it is particularly important for children and teenagers to include milk in their diet because childhood is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build strong bones and to protect against osteoporosis in later life.

In addition, new research from Holland shows that young children who regularly eat milk products are less likely to develop asthma. The researchers believe that the fatty acids found in most dairy products may be responsible for this protective effect.

The Dairy Council warns that people who go on dairy-free diets because they think milk is high in fat may not be consuming sufficient calcium, and could risk their long-term bone health.

And bone health could already be under threat, as a study just published in America has revealed that forearm fractures, particularly among young people, have increased by 42 per cent since the 1970s.

The researchers expressed concern that bone development may have been impaired by increased soft drink consumption and decreased milk consumption.

There are alternative sources of calcium in the diet if you need to avoid milk, in foods such as dark green leafy vegetables like broccoli and spinach, which do not provide as much calcium as milk, and calcium-fortified breads and cereals.

Experts stress that although milk is most important for young people, it forms part of a healthy diet for all ages, helping to reduce the risk of osteoporosis later in life.