Dairy products: how they fit in nutritionally adequate diets

Abstract

Individual diet modeling with linear programming recently provided evidence that plant-based products, fish, and fresh dairy products consumption should be increased in the French population to reach nutrient-based recommendations. The aim of our study was to estimate the number of portions of the different milk-based food categories fitting into nutritionally adequate diets. Starting from the diet observed for each adult in the 1999 French Enquête Individuelle et Nationale sur les Consommations Alimentaires survey (n=1,171), an isocaloric nutritionally adequate diet was modeled that simultaneously met a whole set of nutrient constraints (based on nutrient recommendations) while deviating the least from the observed diet food content. Variations in weight, energy, and nutrients between observed and modeled diets were calculated for each food group (n=7), with a focus on milk-based products (n=4 categories). The diet optimization process increased the weights of three food groups: fruit and vegetables (+62%), starchy foods (+37%), and dairy products (+19%). Across milk-based food categories, the optimization increased yogurts (+60%) and milk (+17%) and decreased cheeses (-48%) without change to milk desserts. Cheeses represented one out of two consumed portions of milk-based products in observed diets, whereas in modeled diets cheeses, milk, and yogurts each represented about one portion per day. Milk desserts were similar before and after optimization, at approximately one portion per week. These results confirm that a large increase in intake of plant-based products is needed. They show that rebalancing the intake of milk-based products in favor of the least energy-dense ones (ie, yogurts and milk) will help individuals in this population reach nutritional adequacy.