Dairy’s place in food-based dietary guidelines worldwide
A recent review published in Frontier in Nutrition analyzed dairy-based messaging from 94 national food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs). The authors found that the dairy messages are primarily focused on basic information such as type of dairy products, serving sizes and consumption frequency. The table below summarizes the dairy messages.
Globally, there are more than 100 FBDGs available. These guidelines function to guide national food and nutrition efforts, including school feeding and nutrition assistance programs, nutrition education, food labeling, and more.
The most frequently recommended dairy product in FBDGs worldwide is cow’s milk. Some countries recommend other animal sources such as goats, sheep, camel and buffalo, or plant-based alternatives that have good protein content and are fortified. Also, in some countries, the FBDG highlights the consumption of specific dairy products over others. For instance, fermented, pasteurized or vitamin D fortified.
