It’s amazing that a drink with just three ingredients can be such a nutrition powerhouse. Let’s start with the A’s. Specifically, Vitamin A: milk contains Vitamin A that keeps your skin and immune systems healthy, helps your vision and supports all of your other tissues as they grow.

When you get to the B’s, milk’s benefits get even more impressive: Vitamin B2, or Riboflavin, found in milk helps your body break down carbohydrates, proteins and fats to produce energy, and it allows your body to use oxygen. Vitamin B3, or Niacin, in milk helps with the normal function of many of your body’s enzymes. It also plays a role in making and repairing DNA, in addition to acting as an antioxidant. Milk also has Vitamin B12, which helps build red blood cells and maintain your central nervous system.

Last, but certainly not least, are some of milk’s more well-known benefits: Vitamin D in milk helps the body utilize minerals such as calcium and phosphorus. The minerals found in milk—calcium, potassium and magnesium—help maintain strong bones, proper muscle functioning and fluid balance. And each 8-ounce glass of milk contains 8 grams of protein, critical to a whole host of biological processes, not least of which is cell growth and repair. How important is protein? Its name comes from the Greek word proteos, meaning “primary” or “first place.”