Topping the list is an acknowledgement of skyrocketing diabetes rates and how those will impact the health of Americans.
According to Lori Hoolihan, nutrition research specialist with the Council, “Americans will become more focused on sugar, calories and sodium as they try to tackle some of the healthcare challenges. Already, chocolate milk is being scrutinized by some school districts because of its sugar content. School board and other decision-makers may become so myopic on sugar and calories that they fail to see the overall nutritional quality of the food item in question, including chocolate milk which provides children with calcium, protein and essential vitamins.”
“We need to fight back against those unintended consequences that are happening out there,” Hoolihan told Dairy Herd Management.
Here are a couple of the other trends identified by the Dairy Council:
• Early lifestyle habits are critical to disease prevention. The dietary and lifestyle habits children acquire at an early age have an important influence later in life. So, the push will be on to teach children and their parents healthy eating habits. Hoolihan says this is an opportunity for the dairy industry, since any focus on health eating habits is likely to include milk. And, if children become good milk-drinkers, they are likely to pass that on to the next generation. “If you are a parent who grew up drinking milk, you will serve milk to your kids,” she says.
• More and more research emphasizes the importance of calcium and vitamin D in the diet, but recent updates to government guidelines did not go far enough in endorsing these nutrients. Further emphasis on calcium and vitamin D will enforce the value of milk, since milk is an important source of those nutrients. “Dairy is the primary source of vitamin D in diets,” Hoolihan says. “Right now, we really have the monopoly on vitamin D,” she adds, although that may change in the future as other foods become fortified with vitamin D.
From the May 6, 2011, Prepared Foods' Daily News.
