I only buy and drink organic 1% milk (preferably Horizon) because it feels good to do so. I have not studies the health benefits too closely. But I do want organic, 2% is good but too fatty. Skim is to lean and watered down. 1% is just right. Horizon is a brand I trust.
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The best milk is the mother's milk! All the other are just complements created by the human's curiosity towards the nature. Milk (any milk) is purely intended for babies to protect and develop their abilities of eating. In your list the second best would be the less fatty one! Cheers!!!!!!
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I suppose that the best milk is skim milk, but the best tasting milk I ever had came straight from the cow. I had to wait while the cow was being milked.
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Chocolate milk reminds me of being a kid! Horizon chocolate milk is organic and tastes incredibly chocolatey (not watered down like some brands of chocolate milk).
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I only drink Braums. I prefer skim but whatever is less fattening. I'm open to switching for health reasons i guess if it is just as cheap and good. The problem is, nothing tastes quite as good as Braums. So really, even if i suffer in some sort of other way, i will do so with a smile on my face. My son also uses a milk cartoon for his avatar.
Source(s):
http://www.braums.com

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I prefer soy milk, as it is less taxing on the environment and my body. Soy milk also has a much longer shelf life as well.
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Cow's Milk because i really like its taste and it is high in Calcium which is really good for bones
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Goats milk is by far my favorite kind of milk especially the one that comes from the toggenburg goat of which some of my pals own. Generally a goats milk has a higher immuno-boosting capability than cow,camel or any other milk that I know of.

It's superiority to cows milk is mainly due to the fact that whereas a cow eats a paltry 30 something herbs and grassses ,a goat partakes in more than 160 herbs,shrubs and grasses. Most of these herbs have tremendous medicinal value and they are thus transfereed to it's milk. In my part of the world HIV/AIDS Patients are given goats milk exclusively to boost their immune systems and prevent opportunistic diseases from infecting them.
Goats milk is easier to digest,it's less allergenic, helps with the digestive and metabolic utilization of minerals such as iron, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium and thus would help prevent diseases such as anemia and bone demineralization .

I have listed some helpful sites below that list the advantages of goat milk vis a vis that of a cow, askdrsears dot com. Basically it has different fat and proteins than a cow,which are more easily digested in the human gut. Less lactose,milk sugar,than cows and higher percentages of essential and trace minerals tahn a cow. For more detailed information on the toggenberg goat the breeding and other miscellenous stuff I find listed british toggenbergs dot com.
To qoute a source "The Toggenburg is a Swiss dairy goat from Toggenburg Valley of Switzerland at Obertoggenburg. They are also credited as being the oldest known dairy goat breed." This basically means they have been a proven source of milk to humans for a very long time. So bassically If you haven't switched to goat milk yet I think I have given you good reason to switch and join my club. I hope this Information is worthwhile.
Source(s):
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070730100229.htm
http://askdrsears.com/html/3/t032400.asp
http://www.britishtoggenburgs.co.uk/

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I tend to prefer chocolate milk, but only specific kinds of it. Most chocolate milk you find these days would better be called "sweet, brown-colored" milk. You don't taste much chocolate in it at all, and it's as sweet as the milk at the bottom of your bowl of Frosted Flakes.

Braum's, on the other hand, makes the best chocolate milk I have been able to find since Hershey's stopped making it. It has a solid, chocolatey flavor to it, and has a nice, thick texture (though, granted, this is accomplished with carrageenan). Also, Braum's cows don't use growth hormones.

As for the health issues of milk, there is a lot to think about on both sides. Cow's milk has a very different formula than human breast milk, and just on the face of it, the idea that cow's milk can be a perfect substitute for human milk for children is questionable. But on the other hand, I don't think that cow's milk can harm adults when part of a properly balanced diet. (Though there are some questions concerning the growth hormones that some cow herds are dosed with to increase milk production, I have not researched the matter enough to offer an opinion either way.)
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From a health perspective, you are better to avoid the forms of milk that come from animals. Not so much because of the fats (though that is an issue) but because of the lactose, something we lose the ability to effectively break down as we enter childhood. Babies have the enzymes to break this down, but we don't. .. Homogenized milks are also a bit of an issue (and the vast majority of milks available are homogenized as it's more convenient: the fats don't separate.) The broken-down fats aren't as effectively processed by our digestive system, passing straight through our digestive tract and not being effectively digested. Kind of like those trans-fats that are becoming common.

Cheeses and Yoghurts are a different matter, as the milk has undergone many changes due to the enzymes, curing, etc. For milk, I drink Soy Milk, but I still buy regular cheese and yogurt. This was mostly because I became a vegetarian, and within around 6 months I was quite put-off my the animal-fattiness of milk. Cheese and Yoghurt I still love (and the quantities of rennet in Cheese so small it's a non-issue for me, so I'm happy to still have regular cheese.)

So for Milk I have Soy Milk. I buy Sanitarium's "So Good" brand. No special reason: when I made the change there were really only two common brands around here, and the other seemed somewhat syrup-y to me, which I didn't like. There was a normal (unsweetened) flavour and vanilla ..I find the normal one bland and the vanilla too strong, so I buy the normal and add a little vanilla essence when I open it. :) (It was a lot of effort for me, but I was really put off cows milk, so I had no choice.)

http://www.mission.co.th/eng/img/Imported.jpg

When I'm in Asia, where soy milk is far more common, I usually just have what's on offer. They usually sweeten it with sugar, I think, and it tastes quite nice. Try it in an Asian restaurant and you'll see what I mean.

So I believe Soy Milk is it. ..for convenience's sake too. It's really the only common alternative to cow's milk. Took me a while to settle on a Soy Milk I really liked, and I didn't want to have to re-do that whole process if I shift somewhere else. I also like it over animal-based milks as it has much more body: animal-milks are very watery in comparison. I feel I must be getting more of something there. ;)

The answers not really an different if you're a guy or a girl. Girls should try their best to have a good calcium intake throughout their life (so they don't suffer osteoporosis in their elderly years), so whatever milk they choose, a high-calcium variant is wise. (Where I live, there's a "Calci-Trim" variant of Cow's milk, and a high-calcium version of So Good soy milk too.)

http://www.tararua.net.nz/images/uploaded/recipes/thumb/soup_sm.jpg
Source(s):
Most of the info I read way back then was in hard-copy form, so sorry, I have no good online references for much of what I've read. :)
http://www.sogood.sanitarium.com.au/
http://www.gyminee.com/foods/meadowfresh_calci_trim_milk

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I am a runner and Kid builder chocolate milk with extra protein is one of the best recovery drinks I have found.
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I hate drinking milk. Always have. It's the taste I don't like. But I do not have a problem with using it in cooking. The problem is that it goes bad before I can finish the carton. So I've started using ultra-pasteurized organic milk. It stays good about a month longer than ordinary cow's milk.
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Regular old fat free skim cow's milk! I love it. I drink it straight, use it in coffee, in cooking, for protein shakes, and all kinds of other good stuff. Some people don't like the taste of skim milk, but I've never had a problem with it, and the fact is the health benefits of fat free milk heavily outweigh those of 2% or whole milk.

Calcium, protein, B vitamins, its hard to deny that its good for you; theres so many studies out there that show that making dairy a regular part of your diet is great for weight loss too.

Man this is making me thirsty for a tall glass..maybe with some peanut butter toast on the side :)
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Lactaid Milk for obvious reasons I guess. I can't drink regular milk. :(

I don't know much about milk to say if it's good or bad for a 35 years old man, but I know this... I can't have my cereal without it!
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You've gotten an excellent assortment of answers here, so it's tricky to add my two cents! The best milk for any one person is the kind that they're willing to drink that doesn't cause stomach upset or other health issues. For me, it's fat-free cow's milk; sometimes I'll have it twice a day, with cereal in the morning and some sugar-free pudding in the evening. I'm a 43-year-old diabetic woman, and adjusting to fat-free milk was tricky, but doable.

I have a friend who drinks only soy milk. She has an allergy to certain parts of cow's milk (it's not the usual lactose intolerance issue).

It's not unusual for Asians to have major lactose intolerance issues, to the point where they can't comfortably eat ice cream, let alone drink milk.

Here's a link to the National Dairy Council. Sure, you can expect them to be a bit biased, but it's a reasonable source for information:

http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/nationaldairycouncil
Source(s):
http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/nationaldairycouncil

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I like fresh milk that has just come from the cow. It is not that easy to get. My grandparents had a dairy farm. There is nothing like it. It is very fresh. I think a lot is lost when it leaves. It is good for you, it has protein and calcium. You need it for your bones. It is good for your skin. We are all supposed to be drinking milk.
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