Eat Right During National Nutrition Month® and Beyond

SACRAMENTO, CALIF.—Feb. 26/PRNewswire/During National Nutrition Month®, the registered dietitians at Dairy Council of California offer a toast to your family’s lifelong health with milk and its multiple health benefits.

"Serving a glass of milk with a meal or offering flavored milk as a snack helps the whole family eat right at every age,” said Andrea Garen, M.A., R.D., Project Manager with Dairy Council of California. “Cheese and yogurt are also good-tasting and economical sources of calcium, an important nutrient that provides a variety of health benefits for children, adolescents and adults."

For young children, drinking milk supplies important nutrients like calcium, potassium and magnesium, and may also help prevent tooth decay. A recent American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement recommends that children be given only milk or water between meals because the sugar available in carbonated beverages and fruit drinks is a leading cause of dental cavities.

For adolescents ages 12–16, milk and dairy foods are important for building strong bones and may help in achieving a healthy weight. While the 2005 Dietary Guidelines recognize that people who consume more dairy foods have better overall diets, a study published in the December 2008 Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that adolescents with higher daily dairy-food consumption also have less body fat and a lower body mass index (BMI) than those with lower daily dairy consumption.

For adults, milk and dairy foods may improve overall body composition. A scientific review of over 90 clinical trials, metabolic experiments and observational studies links higher daily calcium intake–between 1,000 and 1,300 mg/day–with reduced body-fat mass. The review suggests that calcium in dairy foods may play a role in preserving lean body mass, reducing weight gain and increasing weight loss on calorie-restricted diets.

"Within the context of an overall balanced diet, milk and dairy foods can offer health benefits that last a lifetime,” said Garen. “Parents set a healthy example by offering calcium-rich dairy foods like milk, cheese and yogurt, which helps the whole family eat right."

For more ways to eat right with calcium-rich recipes and articles on being a healthy role model, visit the free family meal-planning and nutrition website Meals Matter, www.mealsmatter.org, sponsored by Dairy Council of California.

Through various nutrition education programs, Dairy Council of California promotes healthy choices from all the food groups and regular physical activity as the foundation for optimal health. Healthy Eating Made Easier®.

¹Preventive Oral Health Intervention for Pediatricians. PEDIATRICS Vol. 122 No. 6 December 2008, pp. 1387-1394 (doi:10.1542/peds.2008-2577)

²U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005. 6th Edition, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, January 2005.

³Moore LL, Singer MR, Qureshi MM, Bradlee ML. Dairy Intake and Anthropometric Measures of Body Fat Among Children and Adolescents in NHANES. Journal of the American College of Nutrition 2008;27:702-710.

⁴Heaney R., Rafferty K. The preponderance of the evidence: an example from the issue of calcium intake and body composition. Nutrition Reviews 2009;67(1):32-39.

EAT RIGHT DURING NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH® AND BEYOND