You cannot be well nourished without dairy

Article Type: Food facts From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 39, Issue 4

A leading American scientist, known for his work on calcium, says you cannot be well nourished without dairy products. In honour of National Dairy Week 2009,Professor Robert Heaney was speaking at The Dairy Council’s Dairy Through the Ages Conference. Professor Heaney says: “The primitive diet was energy poor and nutrient rich, the modern diet is the opposite which means we tend to be overweight yet malnourished. Nutrients work together like the instruments in a symphony orchestra. An adequate calcium intake is essential for bone growth in childhood and bone maintenance in the elderly but we need a diet rich in protein, phosphorus, potassium and vitamin D as well. Without them calcium will do little or nothing.

“Amongst modern foods, dairy foods – particularly milk and yoghurt – stand out as having the richest nutrient profile for their energy content. They are typically rich in protein, phosphorus, potassium,calcium, magnesium, and several of the B-vitamins. In formulating the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, it became clear that it would be almost impossible to construct a fully adequate diet of modern foods without three servings of dairy per day”.

Dr Judith Bryans, Director of The Dairy Council, says: “Although dairy products are primarily associated with calcium, many dairy foods also provide protein, carbohydrate and varying amounts of fat, while making a valuable contribution to the intake of a variety of vitamins and minerals. Everyone requires good nutrition; however, some people fall short of meeting their nutritional needs.

“Eating a healthy balanced diet which includes some foods from all the food groups in varying amounts can help people to meet their nutrient needs. Dairy foods fit very well into a healthy eating pattern. For those who cannot or do not wish to eat dairy products it is important that the nutrients that dairy provides are replaced with other foods and a State Registered Dietitian can help them do this”.

National recommendations for the daily calcium intake of a healthy adult are 700 mg/day. Breastfeeding women require more calcium and will need to eat a wide range of calcium-containing foods to meet their needs, while children’s requirements for calcium will depend on their age and gender. Milk, cheese and yogurt are all important providers of calcium, and each of the following portion sizes of these foods provide approximately a third of an adult’s daily requirement for calcium:

• a 200 ml glass of semi-skimmed milk provides 24 mg of calcium;

• a 150 g pot of low-fat yogurt provides 243 mg of calcium; and

• 30 g (matchbox size) of hard cheese provides 222 mg of calcium.

The government’s Food Standards Agency recognises the importance of dairy products by including them in The Eatwell plate, in which it recommends some dairy foods are consumed. In talking about milk and dairy products on its website, it says: “They’re also an important source of calcium, which helps to keep our bones strong. The calcium in dairy foods is easy for the body to absorb”.

Other sources of calcium are green leafy vegetables, almonds, seeds and pulses, as well as fish where you eat the bones, such as sardines.

For more details about dairy nutrition, National Dairy Week 2009, and a complete table of the Reference Nutrient Intakes for calcium, visit The Dairy Council’s website at: www.milk.co.uk