Cows’ milk is the best for children
Plant-based alternatives ‘inadequate’ say experts
THEM bones, them bones need... just old-fashioned milk it seems.
The food-safety watchdog warned parents against giving young children almond ‘milk’, coconut ‘milk’ and rice ‘milk’ deeming them ‘nutritionally inadequate.’ Instead, it says parents of toddlers should give them 550ml of cows’ milk a day.
The report was welcomed by farmers yesterday who blasted the ‘outright quackery’ that exists about the ‘nutritional defects of milk.’
President of The Irish Creamery Milk Supplier Association, Pat McCormack said that farmers and people in the wider dairy sector had had to endure what he called a ‘whispering campaign’ against dairy milk for some years now.
He described the report as a ‘blunt’ assessment of the nutritional value ‘of some of the so-called nut milks’, which he said were being ‘relentlessly hyped as subrequired stitutes for dairy milk’.
He said it was ‘good news’ for Irish farmers who have faced challenges in recent years from vegan activists and environmentalists who advocate plant-based diets.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland report yesterday outlined the food-based dietary guideline recommendations for one- to fiveyear-olds living in Ireland.
It is the first time a national scientific report has addressed the nutritional needs of Irish toddlers and pre-school children.
Some of the key recommendations were that milk substitutes are ‘nutritionally inadequate’ and that milk is a key food for children of that age group. The FSAI recommended a daily intake of 550ml of cow’s milk or equivalent amounts of yoghurt or cheese.
Parents were also warned against using beverages such as almond ‘milk’, coconut ‘milk’ and rice ‘milk’, as milk substitutes as these are ‘nutritionally inadequate’.
If a plant-based beverage is to replace cow’s milk, the FSAI advised a soya ‘milk’ can be used, provided it is fortified with nutrients, particularly calcium.
The report recommended all children aged one to five years be given a low-dose of vitamin D-only supplement in winter months to make up for lack of skin synthesis of this vitamin from sunlight. Thirty grams of lean red meat, three days a week was also recommended to be served to children for iron and other minerals. On other days poultry, fish, eggs, beans or lentils were recommended.
Mr McCormack said the report should be standard reference for ‘those who pronounce on the questions around childhood nutrition’.
Consultant nutritionist Gaye Godkin told the Irish Daily Mail that diversity is important in nutrition and you can’t ‘demonise’ whole food groups. ‘You’re going to get people who are very exercised about being vegan, they form an identity around it, and that’s their journey,’ she said.
‘However you cannot say that dairy is bad – it’s not bad. And at the same time you cannot say that you can’t live without it –because you can. You can’t have two polar opposites, somewhere in the middle you need to kind of [meet].’
Ms Godkin said it comes down to personalised nutrition and a broad diet. ‘If you are going to take whole groups out of the diet you are even restricting protein choices there. Where possible I wouldn’t.
‘Being able to have a good broad [diet] and enjoy food [is important].’
Although lactose intolerance is not very prevalent in Ireland - with only 5% affected compared to an estimated 65% worldwide - in cases
‘Good news for Irish farmers’ ‘You cannot say that dairy is bad’
where a milk substitute is needed, Ms Godkin would recommend fortified oat ‘milks’.
Dr Pamela Byrne, CEO of FSAI said: ‘This report will be the scientific evidence-base provided to the Department of Health, to inform the future national food-based dietary guidelines that will empower parents, guardians and health professionals to best support this essential stage in a child’s development.’