Dairy products, including cheese, are complete and balanced foods owing to the richness and variety of their nutritional components. They are considered basic foodstuffs and pillars of a diet as they possess magnificent nutritional qualities which contribute to satisfying the energetic and nutritional needs of many population groups.

Dairy products can provide 65%-75% of the daily recommended calcium for an adult. A study, carried out by Umesawa and co. for the JPHC Study Group, highlights the inverse association between the ingestion of calcium from dairy products and the risk of suffering cerebrovascular accidents.

This important pilot study reflects the impact that the ingestion of calcium from dairy sources has in the protection from cerebrovascular illness and provides scientific evidence for the importance of increasing consumption of dairy products, especially within population groups who consume less than the recommended amount (2-3 portions a day) to achieve greater protection against cerebrovascular accidents.

The Ten Commandments of Dairy Products.

1. The cardiologist and the General Practitioner are the professionals directly involved with nutritional information about the health of the heart.That is why their knowledge and ability to transmit adequate nutritional guidelines are essential for reinforcing cardiovascular health.

2. It is advisable to follow the nutritional guidelines reflected in the ‘food pyramid’, which is adapted to Spanish reality. For an adult, the number of daily recommended portions of dairy products is 2-3.

3. Dairy products are complete and balanced foods owing to the richness and variety of their nutritional components. That’s why they are considered to be pillars of a good diet, as much in infancy and adolescence as in adulthood.

4. Los productos lácteos son alimentos especialmente ricos en proteínas y calcio de fácil asimilación, capaces de satisfacer los requerimientos energéticos del adulto. El gran aporte de calcio proporcionado por los productos lácteos (65-75% de la Cantidad Diaria Recomendada) resulta notable no sólo en cantidad sino también en biodisponibilidad.

5. Dairy products are especially rich in proteins and easily-assimilated calcium, able to satisfy the energy needs of the adult. The great contribution they make to daily calcium requirements (65-75% of the Recommended Daily Amount) is notable not just for its size but also for its bioavailability.

6. Milk proteins, through the action of lactic bacteria during fermentation, give rise to bioactive peptides with possible antihypertensive, antioxidant, immunological and antimicrobial effects..

7. Constituents of the lipids present in dairy products, such as butric acid, sphingomyelin and linoleic acid combined, may have cardioprotective effects..

8. The great variety of dairy products available ensures that everybody can find the dairy source that best suits their needs.

9. Dairy products possess very good qualities to become functional foods which, maintaining the traditional sensorial attributes, offer health benefits – such as cardiovascular – beyond the habitual nutritional effects..

10. Among the cardiovascular health benefits of dairy products: helping with maintaining weight and reducing the percentage of body fat, contributing to better nutritional balance, protecting against cardiovascular risk factors (raised blood pressure, resistance to insulin, aggregation of platelets or triggering the process of arteriosclerosis.)

Source: Federación Nacional de Industrias Lácteas (National Federation of Dairy Industries) - FeNIL

The nutritive quality of sheep’s milk and cheese

At the present moment, the principal economic justification for the production of sheep’s milk resides in its high solids content, which guarantees greater cheese output compared to cow’s milk. However, people rarely consider that sheep’s milk is a foodstuff of extraordinary nutritive value, rich in essential nutrients and bioactive elements (beneficial for human health) and with great potential for the present and future human diet. It is precisely in this nutritive quality of the sheep’s milk (and its derivatives) and its association with consumer health that one must seek new arguments for its future economic viability…

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Carlos Gonzalo Abascal – University of León – www.unileon.es
José Antonio Asensio – Ovine Promotion Consortium – www.lechedeoveja.com