Academics question school milk choice

Thursday Feb 19, 2015
Kids all over the country returned to school last week - some arrived with lunchboxes full of healthy food; others did not. Fortunately, more than 70 per cent of primary school children will be given a small box of milk each day, courtesy of farmers via the cooperative Fonterra.

We celebrate the Milk for Schools initiative. It’s good for the image of the cooperative, it’s good for kids to consume our national product and it’s good for schools to provide free nutrients to all kids, particularly those most in need. The problem is these kids - 170,000 of them each day - are consuming ‘lite’ milk that has reduced dairy fat.

Fonterra explains this decision: "The New Zealand Dietary Guidelines from the Ministry of Health advise that from the age of two years low-fat dairy products are best for children."

But are the Ministry guidelines right? If you look at the Ministry’s background paper ‘Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Healthy Children and Young People (Aged 2-18 years)’, the recommendation for low-fat milk is based on its lower saturated fat content and its often higher protein and calcium content.

This is despite the fact that numerous randomised, controlled trials have called into question the long-held notion that saturated fat causes cardiovascular problems (most showing, at worst, a neutral effect on health risk).

In fact, dairy fat has been found to be beneficial - not detrimental - to an individual’s health. Population studies have found a reduced risk of obesity, reduced risk of coronary events and colorectal cancer and improved metabolic health for those who consume full-fat dairy products compared to those who avoid them. In kids there is no link between full-fat milk and obesity; in fact, it is skim and one per cent milk that is associated with weight gain.

Interestingly, the research showed the positive association between dairy fat and health is much stronger in European countries than it is in the United States, perhaps due to the sources of dairy in the diet. A large proportion of the dairy fat consumed in the United States is in the form of more processed foods, such as ice cream and pizza. Europe retains a stronger tradition of consuming full-fat traditional dairy products like plain cheeses, plain butter, and unsweetened yoghurt.

Another difference is the quality of the dairy fat present in the foods. Typical dairy farming in the United States is highly industrialised, with a focus on maximising yield per dairy cow. Among other things, cows are treated with growth hormones and are not as likely to be grass fed, relying instead on corn and soybean-based feed concentrates. Thankfully, in New Zealand, our cows are almost always grass fed.
So what makes full-fat dairy beneficial? For one, the increased fat in the dairy products will naturally be more satisfying - potentially helping with regulating food intake more than skim or trim milk options. Science is also pointing to the fatty acid composition. Dairy fat is a rich source of butyric acid, a short-chain fatty acid that is extremely beneficial for our immune system.

The best benefit, though, of providing milk in schools is improving the nutrition status of those most in need - and what these kids need most is calories from nutrient dense foods. A closer inspection of the nutrient breakdown of blue and light blue milk shows that light blue milk, contrary to popular belief, has no nutritional advantages.

Calcium and protein - the two main selling points of ‘lite’ milks - are exactly the same for blue and light blue milk. Meanwhile, around 10 per cent of two to 13-year-old New Zealand children are deficient in preformed vitamin A (retinol), which is crucial for immune function, neural function and bone development. Those most likely to be deficient are Pasifika children and those from low-income families.
A 200ml carton of blue milk contributes 20 per cent of the daily requirement for preformed vitamin A for children aged four to eight years. The ‘lite’ equivalent doesn’t contain enough to warrant mention on the nutrition information panel.

Besides these nutritional arguments is the social cost of marketing ‘lite’ milk to 170,000 children each day. The message these kids take away is the same anti-fat message that has not served our population well over the past three decades.

Fonterra’s Milk for Schools programme is a great initiative, but it would be even better if it acknowledged the beneficial nutritional composition of full-fat milk. We should celebrate our nutritious national product in all its glory - and reject the Ministry of Health’s guidelines in favour of common sense.

Authors:
Dr Andrew Dickson is a lecturer with Massey University’s School of Management.
Dr Mikki Williden is a senior lecturer and registered nutritionist at AUT’s School of Sport and Recreation.