Health Care Costs and Savings Associated with Increased Dairy Consumption among Adults in the United States

Scrafford, Carolyn G.; Bi, Xiaoyu; Multani, Jasjit K.; Murphy, Mary M.; Schmier, Jordana K.; Barraj, Leila M.

doi:10.3390/nu12010233

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Third, recommendations for reducing animal-sourced food messaging in FBDGs for environmental reasons tend to overlook the fact that some of the most nutrieconomic food options (e.g., dairy foods such as milk and yogurt) ( 7 , 41 ) are already being massively underconsumed around the world, resulting in global deficiencies in some of the exact nutrients [e.g., calcium, iodine, potassium, protein, and vitamin D (in products fortified with vitamin D)] that these foods provide ( 23 , 24 , 56 , 61 ). Therefore, further reductions in the availability of these shortfall nutrient-rich foods would likely lead to significant increases in unecessary suffering and healthcare costs from malnutrition and chronic diseases ( 62 , 63 ). Fourth, many of the environmental sustainabilty arguments that call for reducing animal-source foods in global diets often omit the trade-offs and unintended consequences of significantly reducing animal agriculture from food systems, which would negatively impact the health, livelihoods, social structures, and traditions of billions of people worldwide who depend on animal agriculture for income, assets, land management, and sustenance ( 56 , 64 – 67 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Review of Dairy Recommendations in Food-Based Dietary Guidelines

et al. 2021

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At present, there are ~100 countries with national food-based dietary guidelines. While the intent of these guidelines is to inform national-level dietary recommendations, they also tie into global health and sustainable development initiatives, since diet and nutrition are linked to outcomes for all 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, key messaging in food-based dietary guidelines plays an important role in both national and global health efforts. However, this type of national-level dietary guidance is not standardized and varies considerably from country to country, and from food group to food group. The main objective of this review is to provide a novel look at dairy food group messaging within global food-based dietary guidelines, focusing specifically on nutrient-based and health-based messaging. Dairy-based messaging from 94 national food-based dietary guidelines was reviewed and grouped by region, with an emphasis on messaging regarding dairy's contribution to nutrients of public health concern for both underconsumption and overconsumption. The results showed that most nutrient-based dairy messaging relating to underconsumption was focused on calcium, followed by vitamin D, iodine, potassium, and protein; whereas messaging related to overconsumption was focused on saturated fat, added sugars, and salt. Health-based messaging specific to dairy food intake typically coalesced around three types of health outcomes: (1) bone, teeth, and muscle, (2) cardiometabolic, and (3) gut and immune. Although a fundamental concept of food-based dietary guidelines is to provide dietary guidance in a manner that is both “food-based,” and in the context of “dietary” patterns, most food-based dietary guidelines still express the health value of dairy foods (and potentially other foods groups) solely in terms of their nutrient content – and often times only in the context of a single nutrient (e.g., calcium).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Review of Dairy Recommendations in Food-Based Dietary Guidelines

et al. 2021

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“…Although it makes sense to examine this tradeoff, it is important that judgements on the replacement of dairy products with those from plants include evidence on relative functionality (e.g., hypotensive and muscle protein synthesis stimulation effects) and not only simple comparisons of nutrient content (Grant and Hicks, 2018). Interestingly, a recent detailed modeling of the relationship between diet and health care costs concludes that adoption of a dietary pattern with increased dairy consumption by US adults would have the potential to save billions of dollars (Scrafford et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MILK Symposium review: The importance of milk and dairy foods in the diets of infants, adolescents, pregnant women, adults, and the elderly

Givens

2020

Journal of Dairy Science

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The ongoing increase in life expectancy is not always accompanied by an increase in healthy life span. There is increasing evidence that dietary exposure in early life can substantially affect chronic disease risk in later life. Milk and dairy foods are important suppliers of a range of key nutrients, with some being particularly important at certain life stages. It is now recognized that milk protein can stimulate insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), essential for longitudinal bone growth and bone mass acquisition in young children, thus reducing the risk of stunting. Low milk consumption during adolescence, particularly by girls, may contribute to suboptimal intake of calcium, magnesium, iodine, and other important nutrients. Given the generally low vitamin D status of European populations, this may have already affected bone development, and any resulting reduced bone strength may become a big issue when the populations are much older. Suboptimal iodine status of many young women has already been reported together with several observational studies showing an association between suboptimal iodine status during pregnancy and reduced cognitive development in the offspring. There is now good evidence that consumption of milk and dairy foods does not lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. Indeed, some negative associations are seen, notably between yogurt consumption and type 2 diabetes, which should be researched with urgency. Greater emphasis should be placed on reducing malnutrition in the elderly and on dietary approaches to reduce their loss of muscle mass, muscle functionality, and bone strength. Whey protein has been shown to be particularly effective for reducing muscle loss; this needs to be developed to provide simple dietary regimens for the elderly to follow.There is an ongoing, often too simplistic debate about the relative value of animal versus plant food sources for protein in particular. It is important that judgments on the replacement of dairy products with those from plants also include the evidence on relative functionality, which is not expressed in simple nutrient content (e.g., hypotensive and muscle synthesis stimulation effects). Only by considering such functionality will a true comparison be achieved.

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“…On average, Americans consume <2 cup equivalents of dairy foods daily (50). In addition to helping Americans meet nutrient needs, meeting recommendations for dairy foods may also lead to healthcare cost savings up to $12.5 billion for the U.S., due to projected reductions in stroke, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer from adequate intake (62). While more targeted research is needed, flexibility with the fat level of dairy food servings in dietary guidance could help Americans meet recommendations, since most of the dairy foods that Americans currently consume are reduced-fat or whole-fat products (50).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the Impact of Fat Flexibility With Dairy Food Servings in the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Healthy U.S.-Style Eating Pattern

2020

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Background: The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommends consuming low-fat or fat-free dairy foods due to concerns about energy and saturated fat intake. It also recommends consuming no more than 10% of daily calories from saturated fat. Objective: The objective was to assess the impact of replacing one serving of fat-free dairy foods in the Healthy U.S.-Style Eating Pattern (HUSEP) from the DGA with one serving of whole-or reduced-fat dairy foods. We hypothesized that this replacement would keep the HUSEP within calorie, saturated fat, and sodium limits. Methods: Utilizing the same modeling procedures as the 2015-2020 DGA, we assessed the nutrient composition of seven alternative models of the 2000-calorie HUSEP. These models replaced all three servings of dairy foods in the HUSEP with an updated fat-free dairy composite (Model 1) or one of three fat-free dairy servings in the HUSEP with: a whole-fat dairy food composite, a reduced-fat/low-fat dairy food composite, whole milk, reduced-fat milk, whole-fat cheese, or reduced-fat cheese (Models 2-7). Results: In all models, the amount of saturated fat did not exceed 10% of total calories, but the amount of energy increased by 45-94 calories. While still lower than current average intake (3,440 mg/d), sodium amounts in four of the seven models exceeded the 2,300 mg/d recommended intake level. Conclusions: Some reduced-and whole-fat dairy foods, especially milk, can fit into calorie-balanced healthy eating patterns that also align with saturated fat recommendations. Allowing some flexibility in fat level of dairy food servings aligns with the recommendations that calories from solid fats and added sugars are best used to increase the palatability of nutrient-dense foods.

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Health Care Costs and Savings Associated with Increased Dairy Consumption among Adults in the United States

Cited by 12 publications

References 40 publications

Global Review of Dairy Recommendations in Food-Based Dietary Guidelines

Global Review of Dairy Recommendations in Food-Based Dietary Guidelines

MILK Symposium review: The importance of milk and dairy foods in the diets of infants, adolescents, pregnant women, adults, and the elderly

Modeling the Impact of Fat Flexibility With Dairy Food Servings in the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Healthy U.S.-Style Eating Pattern

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