Choosing the right milk

All milk is nutritious. It's an important source of calcium, protein, potassium, and vitamin D.

Most packaged food must have nutrition labelling. Here's what to check out in milk.

Fat

The first decision you need to make is whether to go for full fat or reduced fat milk. The fat in milk contains a high proportion of saturated fat. In the 2002 National Children's Nutrition Survey milk was one of the main sources of saturated fat.

From the age of one, cows' milk can be included in a child's diet. Because very young children grow rapidly and need the energy from fat, they should have regular or whole milk rather than reduced-fat milk.

Everyone over the age of two should drink low-fat or reduced fat varieties. For your heart's sake it's important to restrict your intake of saturated fat.

• Full cream or whole milk has around 4 percent fat. It has more energy, fat and saturated fat than other milks.
  
  
• Regular blue-top milk must have a minimum of 3.2 percent fat.
  
  
• Reduced fat milk contains no more than 2 percent fat. It's often labelled "lite", "balance", or "reduced fat".
  
  
• Trim milk has almost all the fat removed. By law, it can't contain more than 1.5 percent fat - but it usually contains half a percent or even less. Super Trim and Extra-Slim contain 0.1 percent fat.
  
  

Calcium

This is needed to build and maintain strong and healthy bones. A deficiency can cause osteoporosis - a disease of the bones. This is particularly a problem for women later in life.

Milk products are a major source of calcium in people's diets. New Zealand children get about one-third of their calcium intake from milk.

Children aged 9 to 11 years and adults need 1000mg per day. Teenagers, women over 50 years, and men over 70 years need 1300mg per day. Younger children need less because of their smaller body size.

Nearly 20 percent of our girls and 12 percent of boys don't consume enough calcium. Inadequate intakes are more common in children aged 11 to 14 years than in younger children.

• Regular and full-cream milk contains about 290mg per 250ml glass.
  
  
• Reduced fat and trim milk contain about 350mg per glass.
  
  
• Calcium-enriched milks contain around 500mg per glass - that's half the recommended daily intake for most people.

Other sources of calcium include dairy products, such as cheese and yoghurt, legumes, certain nuts such as almonds and hazelnuts, fortified juices and breakfast cereals, green leafy vegetables, and small bony fish such as sardines.