Angela Berrill: ABC Nutrition Director on Kiwi's decreasing consumption of cow's milk

Kiwis are drinking increasingly less cow's milk.

Around 1.2 million fewer glasses are consumed every year, fuelling health concerns.

There's been a 17 % decline in the last two decades. 

ABC Nutrition's Angela Berrill told Mike Hosking it's largely due to the rapid rise of plant-based alternatives. 

She said it could be concerning if people reduce their dairy and milk intake but don't get calcium from other sources, as there may be an increased risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures when the younger generations become adults. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Turns out we're not drinking milk the way we used to.
We had one point two million fewer glasses last year.
That's five point six million liters less over the last
couple of decades. Obviously there's some nutritional fallout from that.
I guess ABC Nutritions. Angela beryls with us Angela.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Morning, good morning, Mike, tell you I'm.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Very well, indeed, thank you. So we've got fewer people
drinking less milk, but that doesn't tell us why do
we know why?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, look, Fonterra Brand's actually conducted some research earlier this
year and it's down to a few different reasons. There's
a changing demographic makeup of New Zealand which isn't favoring
milk consumption. There's a dominance in processed foods, including the
likes of fizzy drinks which are now dominating our supermarket shelves.
Is the trend in plant based milk alternatives. Also, these

(00:45):
awareness issues and consumers are not necessarily understanding the benefits
of milk, but also they might not be aware of
the very broad range of milk products available. So for example,
Anchor has a zero Alecto products that's for those that
are lactose intolerant, so there's quite a broad range of
products available there as well.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
So what is this about. Is it about people drinking
less milk and who cares? It's just a bottom line
business thing. Or is it if we drink less milk
there are consequences health wise down the track and we
don't quite know what they are.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
And I think this is exactly it's, Mike. We know that,
you know, drinking milk, it provides us with a fast
array of nutrients. So it's a really nutrient packed whole food.
It contains you know, protein, you calcium, but also the
likes of vitamin's aa B two B to our phosphorus
TESM and zinc as well. So what we know is
that we need calcium, especially during those early years up

(01:40):
until about the mid twenties, to help build our peak
bone mass or peak bone density. So what we estimate
is that if people are actually reducing their say dairy
or milk intake, and they're not getting that calcium from
other sources, then we may be looking at an increased
risk of say, osteoporosis and bone fracture down in those
later year is when these young children or younger adults

(02:03):
are becoming older adults, so it might not be for
another fifty or so years before we actually start to
see the impact of this decline and milk consumption.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Is the intolerance. So you see in my lifetime, everything's changed.
Chocolate's now good for you, or dark chocolate is coffees
apparently now good for you. What was bad is now good,
what was good is now bad. Is milk suffering some
of that as well or not?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Look, I think there's been a lot of misinformation around.
I mean you only have to look on you know,
some of your streaming TV documentaries that can be incredibly
biased and don't necessarily provide you with accurate nutrition information.
And I think also everyone seems to be an expert
in nutrition these days that people really need to turn
to registered dietitians for nutrition advice and we can help

(02:48):
you and ife both pinpoint what's going to be correct
for someone to health and bust a lot of those
musters as well.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Again to appreciate Angela Burrell Well Beryl Nutritionists.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
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