Milk-and-Dairy-Products-in-Human-Nutrition-FAO

Chapter 7 – Milk and dairy programmes affecting nutrition 285
grammes and milk consumption more generally. Some of the festivities from 2009
included the launching of School Milk Clubs in various schools in Gujarat, India;
articles about school milk published in magazines and newspaper in Indonesia; the
gathering of children and representatives from dairies in the main square of Zagreb,
Croatia; and an event attended by the Regional Commissioner of Kilimanjaro, the
Chairman of the Tanzania Dairy Board, representatives from the Ministry of Livestock
Development, pupils, parents and others in Tanzania (FAO, 2011).
In 1998, the FAO Commodities and Trade Division conducted a survey with
members of the International Dairy Federation’s International Milk Promotion
Group to determine the current situation of milk in schools around the world
(Griffin, 2004). Thirty-six countries responded. In general, school milk programmes
have been supported by both public funding and more recently by the dairy industry.
The survey found that school milk represents relatively large percentages of
the milk market (3–25 percent). The survey did not ask specifically about whether
countries had determined the nutritional impacts of milk in schools, but several
questions did begin to probe for this effect. Some countries reported distributing
free milk to children less than five years old in nursery schools (Argentina, Finland,
Kenya, Malawi, Moldova, Portugal, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom and
the United States), an important age when children are particularly vulnerable to
nutritional deficiencies, which can have long-term consequences for them.
Milk is perceived to be nutritious for school-aged children and thus more widely
promoted than other beverages; 74 percent of countries responding to FAO’s survey
reported promoting milk in schools (Griffin, 2004). Approximately one-fifth of the
countries use educational resources to promote milk. The campaign emphasizes the
value of milk in terms of particular nutrients such as calcium. This may be viewed as
an opportunity for achieving positive nutritional outcomes from school-based milk
programming, given the receptivity and general awareness that seems to be present
already. One challenge will be the competing beverages that are also present in
schools. The FAO survey revealed that sugar-sweetened beverages, including fruit
juice (34 percent) and carbonated drinks (28 percent), were the most-commonly
reported alternative drinks to milk available in the schools, and that these products
are also promoted (Griffin, 2004). Given the rising obesity problem in children
around the world and the associated increase in type II diabetes among young
people (UNICEF, 2007; WHO, 2011), it may be important to promote reduced-fat
milk in schools and discourage availability and consumption of sugar sweetened
drinks (Popkin, 2006).
7.4.1 Studies in Kenya and China
Two well-designed studies from Kenya and China, assigned the higher level of plausibility
inference, provide insight into the potential nutritional benefits associated
with school-based milk programmes.
The school-based study in Embu District, Kenya, aimed at investigating the
effect of ASF, particularly meat and milk, on growth, cognition and physical activity
in school-aged children (6–14 years). Children in the intervention groups received
a mid-morning snack while school was in session for a total of 23 months over a
two-and-a-half-year period. Children in the three intervention groups were served
a local dish called githeri made with maize, beans and greens. Group 1 received the