The government should introduce a national ‘three-a-day’ programme for dairy products to help boost consumption and promote healthy lifestyles, a group of MPs have suggested.
A paper published today (9 March), by the Dairy All-Party Parliamentary group, called on health secretary Jeremy Hunt to add a three-a-day programme into nutritional guidelines for the UK as part of efforts to promote the nutritional value of dairy products.
Expanding the NHS’s Eatwell Plate framework - which currently recommends people follow a five-a-day programme for fruit and veg - to cover dairy products, would “show the government’s commitment to promoting a healthy lifestyle and balanced diet, and bolster consumption of our great dairy products, all the while supporting our resilient dairy industry,” it added.
A three-a-day dairy recommendation is already part of healthy eating guidelines in France, it claimed.
Other recommendations in the 28-page report, entitled Putting Dairy Back on the Daily Menu, included a call for dairy products to be better promoted as “outstanding sports recovery products”, and for dairy consumption to be encouraged from an early age, particularly in schools.
APPG members also called for any government policy on sugars to make a clear differentiation between intrinsic sugars such as lactose and ‘free sugars’, as the former had “not been shown to have negative effects on health”.
Content reformulation programmes should recognise the nutrient-density of milk and dairy products, they added, with a focus on reformulation programmes to lower sugar or fat contents potentially “putting products such as cheese or fruit yoghurts at a disadvantage compared to sugar-free sodas and other heavily processed and nutrient-poor products”.
“Current trends in dairy consumption are a concern,” said APPG vice chairman Margaret Ritchie. “Although milk and dairy foods are paramount to the development of children and teenagers, younger generations do not always see dairy as being an essential part of their diet.”
The government needed to work closely with schools to circulate positive messages about dairy more effectively “and ensure that dairy consumption from a young age is a priority”, Ritchie said.
The recommendations were welcomed by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers and Dairy UK, with RABDF CEO Nick Everington stating promoting the consumption of milk and dairy products “as part of a balanced diet is good for the health of consumers, the rural economy and the nation as a whole”.
“Milk and dairy products are packed full of the nutrients we need at all stages of life,” added Dairy UK CEO Judith Bryans. “Yet, because of conflicting media stories, negative messages and a flurry of questionable claims about dairy alternatives, it seems that the nutritional benefits of dairy products and their role in a balanced diet are no longer obvious to consumers.”
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