Special milks

There are a number of milks on the market that make nutritional claims, including:

• Milk for healthy bones
• Milk for a healthy heart
• A2 milk
• Just for kids
• Milk to aid digestion

Healthy bones

Anlene milk is marketed as a dietary supplement. Its three-step system claims to help maintain your bone strength through essential bone nutrients, effective absorption, and the locking-in of nutrients.

Anlene contains the same amount of calcium as calcium-enriched milk. But what differentiates it from regular milk is its added vitamin D, vitamin K, magnesium and zinc.

• Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. One cup (250ml) of Anlene gives you more than half your daily requirements. But most people don't need extra vitamin D from their diet. Over 90 percent of what we need is provided by sunlight on our skin.
  
  While there's concern that some New Zealanders have insufficient vitamin D levels, the best way to boost them is to get out and about. You don't need a special milk to do that. See our Vitamin D deficiency report for more.
  
  
• Vitamin K is added to "lock-in" the bone nutrients. People on the blood-thinning drug warfarin need to be careful - the vitamin K in Anlene may interfere with the effectiveness of their medication.
  
  
• Magnesium and zinc are added to help keep your bones rigid and strong.

Healthy heart

Anchor Vital has added omega-3 fatty acids, which the packaging claims is important for heart health.

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for health - the body can't make them, so you need to include them in your diet. They have many actions: these include lowering total and LDL cholesterol, and reducing your risk of heart disease. See our report on Omega-3 supplements for more.

To help reduce the risk of chronic disease (especially heart disease), the Ministry of Health recommends 430mg per day for women and 610mg per day for men.

• One 250ml glass of Vital will give you 125mg of omega-3 fatty acids.
  
  
• A serving of fish - especially oily fish like salmon and tuna - is a much better source of omega-3. One 150g salmon fillet will give you around 4700mg and half a small can of tuna provides 370mg.
  
  
• But if you're not keen on seafood, Anchor Vital can contribute to your needs.

A2 milk

• A1 and A2 are the most common proteins in milk. Milk sourced from different cows has varying proportions of A1 and A2 - milk produced in New Zealand is normally a mix.
  
  
• In the 1990s it was hypothesised that the A1 protein in milk was a risk factor for autism, diabetes, schizophrenia, and heart disease. The A2 Corporation was set up to produce milk from cows that mainly produce A2 proteins.
  
  
• The New Zealand Food Safety Authority commissioned a report in 2004 to look into these claims. It found little evidence of a relationship between A1 milk and a higher risk of health problems.

Just for kids

Anchor Mega Milk and Meadow Fresh Calci Kids are specifically marketed for kids. They have extra vitamin A and D compared with regular milk. However, calcium-enriched milks contain more calcium.

Meadow Fresh Junior is for growing toddlers. It's enriched with iron "to feed their brains and fuel their lives".

• Nutritionally, kids don't need to drink special milks. It certainly doesn't hurt to have the extra vitamins and minerals, but children eating a balanced diet will get adequate amounts from other foods.
  
  
• Drinking too much of any milk may displace iron-rich foods in the diet. Toddlers should drink no more than 600ml of milk each day.
  
  
• Cows' milk shouldn't be given to babies under one.

Aids digestion

People with lactose intolerance don't have an enzyme to break down lactose, the main sugar in milk. For these people, drinking milk causes unpleasant symptoms such as stomach cramps, bloating and diarrhoea. Symptoms are usually dose-related, so small amounts of milk and other dairy products can usually be eaten.

• Liddell's lactose-free milk has had the lactose converted into galactose and glucose, so the enzyme lactase is no longer required.
  
  
• Goats' milk may also be easier to digest. It still contains lactose, but the fat globules are smaller and this may help digestion. It also lacks a substance called agglutinin, which causes the globules to cluster together in cows' milk.