Milk has been praised as the wonder ingredient that allowed front-rower rugby player Joe Marler to recover from a broken leg in time to play for England in the Six Nations.
Less than a month ago he was diagnosed as suffering from a broken leg, and almost a week after suffering an injury in a match between Quins and Worcester
Speaking in the Independent he said: “I did it in the first half and just thought it was a calf knock and pulled my calf as well so there was a bit of confusion there. I thought I could keep running on it because running is not really my forte anyway so I could get away with hobbling a bit.
“I got to the end of the game and said ‘strap it up it’s just a tight calf or whatever’, and then because of the frozen pitches and the weather, we didn’t really get a chance to run it again until the following week’s warm-up which I said to them ‘I’ll be alright, I’ll just run it off’ but I couldn’t run it off because my leg was broken.”
'It's been really good for me'
He put his extremely rapid recovery down to drinking milk and head coach Eddie Jones also praised its effect.
Joe said: “I think it’s something I’ll keep doing because it’s really tasty. I always thought green top was good for you because it’s reduced fat but they gave me licence to have blue top and the odd day I’d have that gold top stuff, the one with like 1,000 calories. Maybe I won’t carry on with that but blue top, it’s been really good for me.”
AHDB Dairy chairman Gwyn Jones said: “Milk has always been seen as really important for teeth and bones and now Joe has shown it really can work.
“It’s great that Joe has highlighted its importance and acknowledged how much it helped his recovery.”
Dr Anne Mullen, director of nutrition at the Dairy Council, said: “Milk provides an array of nutrients such as protein, calcium, iodine, B vitamins and phosphorus, all of which are important for a healthy balanced diet and are beneficial after sport”.
