Dairy Foods - Calories and
Diet Nutrition
This food group includes
milk, cheese and yogurt, (but not butter, margarine or cream, which sit
in the Fatty and Sugary food group). The foods in this group contain many
different kinds of nutrients, but they're particularly rich in calcium.
The Importance of Calcium
Calcium is a mineral that
strengthens your bones and teeth and ensures that everything runs smoothly
with your muscles and nerves. It's especially important for growth, and
calcium can continue to add to the strength of your bones until you reach
the age of 30-35. Around this time, peak bone mass is reached.
After this point, as a natural
part of the ageing process, bones lose their density and grow weaker.
If you haven't had enough calcium in your diet prior to this, there's
an increased risk that your bones won't be strong enough to cope with
any weakening, which can result in the brittle bone disease, osteoporosis.
Health professionals estimate
that one in three women and one in ten men suffer from osteoporosis, and
there's concern that the diets of teenage girls and young women, in particular,
aren't high enough in calcium. Some experts predict that the future could
bring an osteoporosis epidemic in women.
For Optimum Nutrition and
Calorie Control
Eat 700mg Calcium from Dairy Foods
The UK Department of Health
recommends that both men and women get 700mg of calcium every day to ensure
good health. Realistically, this means:
- A pint of milk
- 2 small tubs of plain or fruit yogurt
- Roughly 3.5oz (80g) of hard cheese
Calcium, Calories and Weight
Reduction
The good news is that, if
you're concerned about your weight, getting the calcium you need doesn't
have to mean eating or drinking full fat foods. There's exactly the same
amount of calcium in lower-calorie fat-free milk as there is in whole
milk. The same goes for low fat yogurt and reduced fat cheese. So you
don't have to buy their full fat counterparts to look after your bones.
More Nutrition and Calories
Information
For more nutritional and
calorie information about foods, please see:
Nutrition - Fruit/Veg
- Carbs - Protein
- Dairy - Fats
- Sugars
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Sources include: BBC Health
(London), US Dept of Agriculture
For calorie details of 2500
Foods, see Calories
in Foods
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