By Veronique Lagrange, Senior Vice President for Strategy and Insights, United States Dairy Export Council 

A closer look at dairy products, growth, and malnutrition.

A group of international experts presented the latest scientific findings on the role of dairy in food aid at the Experimental Biology Meeting in Boston this March.

Preventing and treating moderate malnutrition in order to prevent stunting in children has become a priority for nutrition programs around the world because of the link between stunting, physical and cognitive growth, and, potentially, economic development. The milk powder and whey protein included in ready-to-use supplementary food products purchased by the World Food Program and USAID, respectively,_­ have demonstrable health benefits. Yet with 159 million or approximately 24 percent of children under 5 stunted and many more at risk, the high cost of dairy ingredients creates on-going pressure to displace them with less expensive protein sources, as stated by Dr. Nina Schlossman, president of Global Food & Nutrition Inc. In a presentation of the history of dairy in food aid over the past 20 years, she explained that “dairy is back” in a number of products for vulnerable children. Dr. Ghosh, of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, also presented evidence linking protein quality to low stunting incidence, and introduced the Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score, a new scoring pattern for protein recommended by the FAO (milk powder has a score of 122, peas 64 and wheat only 40).

Leading expert Dr. Manary of Washington University in St. Louis and his team have established a direct correlation between protein quality (as measured by DIAAS) and recovery. The DIAAS score of whole milk powder is 90% and 200% higher than pea and wheat proteins, respectively.

Beyond these endorsements, a recent article demonstrated the potential benefit of therapeutic and supplementary foods containing dairy protein over formulations containing alternative sources of protein and nutrients. Other studies have also documented the effectiveness of supplementary foods that contain dairy protein. Although adding milk-based powders generally increases the cost of these products, the benefits of including milk-based powders in supplementary foods may be worth the price increase.  The addition of milk-based proteins to supplementary foods potentially allows children to respond faster to malnutrition treatment. 
 
In a way, one can think of dairy as an essential component of a therapeutic food, the cost-benefit of which is unmeasurable. In fact, data from a series of studies called The Cost of Hunger in Africa have shown that child undernutrition has the ability to reduce a nation’s workforce by 9.4 percent and national GDP by up to 16.5 percent. The prevention of one third of stunting occurrences could increase incomes by 11 percent. The median benefit to cost ratio associated with stunting prevention is 18, while average benefit to cost estimates are between 3.8 and 34.1.

Which is a better investment to make?  

This is such an exciting field. For example, a recent study presented by Drs. S. Ghosh and D. Clark at the EB Symposium, showed that higher maternal milk consumption is associated with greater fetal weight gain. This ground-breaking research will be extremely important, especially as prevention of low birth weight is becoming one of the leading goals of the United Nations.

As recent data suggest, the amount of milk protein is a critical factor for therapeutic foods. If it is below active threshold, the product may not be effective, and if above, the need results in wasted resources and higher costs. This is what we try to discover: the amount of dairy protein which can be an effective component for recovery from malnutrition at each and every stage of the first 1,000 days of life, and how to cost-optimize the food intervention.