During tough economic times, nutrition can be jeopardized
By Joseph O’Donnell, Ph.D.
With the economy in the tank, doom and gloom reigns over every industry – even dairy. While the perception is that people need to eat in good times and bad so commodities like dairy should not be greatly affected, this is far from reality. The sad fact is, when it comes to shrinking budgets, what tends to go first is good nutrition. Hunger trumps health in tough times as consumers look to address the empty belly first and deal with the long-term consequences of poor food selection later. This translates to selecting cheaper, less nutrient-dense foods over nutrient-dense foods like dairy. Sure, everyone tightens the belt in hard times – more processed cheese and less aged Cheddar – but consumers will also switch from butter, cream cheese, sour cream and the like to the various chemically hydrogenated spreads because of the difference in price. And, as these products reformulate to reduce the villainous trans fat content, they are regaining marketshare.
Fluid milk, as a grocery staple, will feel less of a pinch but it will be affected as well. Some people will cut back while other will opt for cheap soft drinks as a beverage option. Again, nutrition gets sacrificed in the name of the dollar. It doesn’t matter if you live in the United States or a Third World country, when you are looking to feed your family in the most economical way possible the calories will win over nutrition every time. What is most affected is our health. Obesity exists in poor countries as well as rich ones. While the drivers differ, the underlying principle is the same – both consume too many low nutrient-dense foods. All of the physiological systems in our bodies suffer from a poorly balanced diet – including digestive and nutrient processing systems. With inefficient metabolism, calories cannot be properly utilized, appetites are not suppressed, health declines and obesity reigns. I predict that the tough economy will result in higher obesity rates, due to the increasing consumption of empty calories. We can also expect all of the other health issues surrounding a deficient diet to be amplified as well – calcium, vitamins, protein and other minerals. These will have varying degrees of impact on our population in the short term and can result in dire long-term consequences.
Dairy is strongly recognized for its nutrient profile – it’s what separates milk and dairy foods from all others. Science is now in a position to describe specifically how dairy delivers nutritional benefits. This means more than just protein, vitamins and minerals but also direct interactions between components of milk selected through an evolutionary process (not serendipitous, as with plants) to stimulate, modulate, enhance and suppress biological activities in humans. These biological activities are responsible for the regulation of appetite, immune function, digestion and untold functions yet to be discovered.
The challenge in tough financial times is to offer consumers affordable, balanced nutrition that will satisfy the hunger without overloading on calories, especially carbohydrate (e.g., sugar) calories. We are very close to being in that position. After years of research into these questions, the industry is starting to implement the technology. While it will take several more years to see actual product formulation based on biologically active aspects of dairy products, it is coming and will be soon enough to affect the health of the greater population. What we are doing is fine-tuning the definition of a balanced diet.
Delivering nutrition lies at the heart of the dairy industry. We can tout the health merits of dairy products until the proverbial cows come home. Consumers will hear the buzz but still opt for cheaper, unbalanced diets in hard times. As a global industry, we need to help consumers design diets that can do both – be affordable but also contain enough of the critical dairy components necessary to maintain good health. To do that we need to continue a fast-paced effort to identify these dairy components and convert them into products that will meet the needs of consumers struggling to feed their families. We’re almost there.
This article first appeared in the January 2009 issue of Cheese Market News.
