Opinion
Milk was the world’s first ‘superfood’
Like me, I suspect that you’ve always known that milk is a fabulous, nutritious food, despite what the dairy detractors claim; despite what those politicians and government agencies try to tell us.
We have one of the most noble and outstanding raw materials to work with. We don’t talk it up enough
As Nestlé SA head of dairy strategic business unit said at the 3rd Global Dairy Congress in Madrid recently: “We have one of the most noble and outstanding raw materials to work with. We don’t talk it up enough.”
So it was great to visit the website of one UK national newspaper and read the headline, ‘Milk was the world’s first superfood’. According to a story on The Telegraph’s website from science correspondent Richard Alleyne, “Milk was the world’s first ‘superfood’, claim scientists, who believe that it helped prehistoric families inhabit harsh northern climes”.
The Telegraph article said that researchers believe that humans first evolved into milk drinkers 7,500 years ago in the Balkans, and used the ability to populate northern Europe, including Britain. At the time, the north was inhospitable, being cold and damp and covered in forests. Settlers would die if a crop failed, yet milk would have provided them with a steady and reliable source of nutrition, including essential vitamin D, which in warmer climes would have been provided by sunlight hitting the skin.
I will just repeat that phrase: milk provided them with a steady and reliable source of nutrition. I knew that and of course you knew that, so why can’t those experts in various government food bodies around the world see it?
Professor Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London, who led this new study, knew that. He described milk as ‘the world’s first superfood’ and said that, without it, the history of northern Europe would have been put back a thousand years.
“Milk has given us a great deal to be thankful for,” he said.
About the author
Geoff Platt is editor of Dairy Innovation
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Dairy Innovation is the only international magazine to focus on new product launches in all market segments around the globe, and reflects the increasing influence of health, ethics and the environment on consumer trends.
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