Dairy products contain many nutrients including protein and a variety of vitamins and minerals.

Nutrition labels and nutrition profiling systems provide an opportunity to demonstrate dairy’s health benefits to consumers. Food-rating systems that attempt to measure the nutritional quality and healthfulness of foods are exploding in retail and regulating environments.

As one of the five core food groups, dairy products play a key role in a balanced diet. Dairy products are convenient, cost-effective, tasty, and contain essential nutrients, including calcium, vitamin A, B12, riboflavin, carbohydrate, protein, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc. Three servings of dairy every day (which can include 250 ml milk, 200 ml yoghurt and 40 g cheese) will provide most people with their daily calcium requirement, plus significant amounts of the other essential nutrients.

The Facts

• Nutrient density can be a valuable tool for nutrition education and dietary guidance.
• Both nutrient density and nutrient profiling are inter-dependent in determining food quality. Therefore, in order to determine nutrient density, nutrient profiling systems have to be in place.
• There are various types of nutrient profiling systems in use and yet, not any definite conclusion as to which is the best to use. The question is how to develop a science-based system for assessing the nutrient density of a food, which nutrients to include and which standard to measure nutrients against.

Terminology

• Nutrient density is defined as the ratio of nutrient content (in grams) to the total energy content (in kilojoules) of a specific food product or the ratio of food energy from carbohydrate, protein or fat content to the total food energy of the food product.
• The term nutrient-rich is commonly used as a synonym for nutrient-dense foods.
• Nutrient profiling of foods is defined as the science of ranking foods based on their nutrient composition.
• Energy-dense/nutrient-poor is a term commonly used to characterise foods perceived as unhealthy, also referred to as junk food or empty calories. Therefore foods high in energy and low in nutrients. 

What About Dairy?

There is currently no single profiling system that can accurately reflect the contribution that a food, or food category, makes to the overall diet. A number of profiling systems have been proposed globally, yet none of these can be applied consistently to all foods, as they are not founded in science. Not one system reflects both the nutrient contribution of a food to the diet and the effect of its matrix on nutrient bioavailability. In addition, frequency of consumption is virtually impossible to account for when developing a profiling system.

Dairy products contain many nutrients and provide protein (8g protein / 250ml portion of milk) and a variety of vitamins and minerals to the diet. The nutritional benefits of dairy products are recognised by their inclusion in dietary guidelines worldwide. In South Africa the Food Based Dietary Guideline applicable reads: “Chicken, fish, meat, milk or eggs could be eaten daily”.

The promotion of nutrient dense foods, consumed as part of a healthy balanced diet and lifestyle, is more likely to help consumers meet their nutrient needs while also addressing increased diet-related chronic diseases.

* NRV - Nutrient Reference Value for individuals 4 years and older

** RDA - Recommended Dietary Allowance

*** Prudent Dietary Guidelines for macro nutrients

(3 servings a day = 250 ml full-cream milk 200 ml low-fat yoghurt 40 g cheese)

Dairy is a source of calcium in the diet. Milk is transformed into a wide variety of dairy products, including cheese, yoghurt, cream, butter, ice-cream and various types of milk. Nutrient labels and nutrient-profiling systems need to characterize the role of nutrient-rich foods in a well-rounded, healthy diet.

References

http://www.idforg.Health Professionals. 2008. Final IDF Position on General Principles of Nutrient Profiling.
http://www.idfdairynutrition.org./Health Professionals IDF World Dairy Summit Mexico. 2008.
http://www.dairyaustralia.co.za. Milk, cheese and yoghurt. Dairy Australia. 2008.
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