13 October 2008Milk Facts

• Milk and cheese are a good source of calcium, which is necessary for bone health 

• Many people may not know that semi-skimmed milk is low fat and skimmed milk is fat free*** 

• Many people think that dairy foods are high in fat, when in fact whole milk is just 3.6%; semi-skimmed milk is just 1.7% and skimmed milk is just 0.1%.

• Drinking milk helps maintain healthy teeth because it contains calcium*****

• An average glass of semi-skimmed milk (200ml) provides a 6 year old with 55% of their daily calcium requirement!******

• Milk and milk products provide 43% of calcium in the diet of UK adults ages 19-64******* 

References:

***Annex-Nutrition claims and conditions applying to them. Official Journal of the European Union.

****Royal Society of Chemistry and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1991) McCance and Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods, 5th edition. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry).

*****British Nutrition Foundation (1999) Oral health, diet and other factors. In: Task Force report. WHO Technical Report Series: Diet, Nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases; Report of a joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation (2003)

******Royal Society of Chemistry and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1991) McCance and Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods, 5th edition. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry).  Dietary Reference Values for Food Energy and Nutrients for the United Kingdom. Report of the Panel on Dietary Values of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy. Department of Health Report on Health and Social Subjects No.41 DH: The Stationary Office, 1998.

******* OF UK adults aged 19-64.  Henderson L et al (2003) The National Diet and Nutrition Survey: Adults aged 19 to 64 years, Volume 2: Vitamin and mineral intake and urinary analytes. London: TSO