“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”

A Roman poet used the following words in Latin “mens sana incorpore sano“ (a healthy mind in a healthy body). A healthy diet is one of the pillars of this century’s old philosophy.

There are a general consensus and scientific evidence supporting the important contribution of milk and dairy products as part of a healthy diet. Milk and dairy products are excellent sources of calcium, vitamins B2 and B12, high-quality protein, and carbohydrates, such as lactose, but they are also rich in magnesium, potassium, various fatty acids, and vitamin D. Consumers are aware of the benefits of milk products and other dairy products.

There is evidence that consumption of dairy has other benefits as well, for instance, protection against weight gain and obesity, cardiometabolic diseases, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases (IDF, 2019). Including milk and milk products in our daily diet is really beneficial. Most people avoiding milk do not consume the recommended levels of calcium, potassium, vitamin D, and other nutrients. The International DairyFederation (IDF) concludes that there is extensive evidence that daily consumption of dairy as part of a well-balanced diet, strengthens the health of the consumers (source: IDF factsheet 006/2019-04 – Health benefits of dairy).

It is really interesting to see how different nations responded to the pandemic and deal with the facts. In Pakistan, people used to drink raw (unprocessed) milk, but the government took initiatives in the past to abandon the consumption of this so-called loose milk. However, raw milk is suddenly considered to be a good remedy by the large population. Clearly, people are not aware of the danger of drinking raw milk. In the year 1900, thousands of people died of tuberculosis in the Netherlands (the cows were carriers of the disease and it was spread through drinking raw milk). In China, the demand for daily increased a lot. Dairy is regarded as healthy because of its nutritional value. The Chinese population is aging fast and nutrition for the elderly is an important focal point for the government with the emphasis on dairy. 

What we have learned is that healthy food becomes more and more important.