Milk strongly recommended with meals
|
A study published in the Food & Nutrition Research journal in 2010 recommends milk as the best choice of beverage to drink with meals, taking into account both its nutrition content and climate impact.
Nutrient profiles were created for the studied beverages to describe their healthiness and the quantities of 21 essential nutrients were also taken into account.
The beverages under examination included e.g. milk, orange juice, a soft drink, beer, wine, bottled carbonated water, soy drink and oat drink.
You can read more about the study on the Maito ja Terveys ry association website (in Finnish only):
http://www.maitojaterveys.fi
|
| No single calculation method |
The calculation of a carbon footprint for individual items of food is not as yet an unambiguous process and the various calculation methods are not comparable.
Valio will start to publish information about the carbon footprint of individual products once the calculation methods have been standardised so that the variation in results from different studies can be considered reliable in themselves and not due to the calculation method itself.
A product’s nutrition content and Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) are of late also being taken into account in the carbon footprint calculation. It will then be possible to seek an answer to the question of what kind of food can best satisfy the intake of essential nutrients with the lowest climate impact.
|
| Cows turn grass into nutrition |
The largest portion of dairy products’ carbon footprint is generated in primary production. The carbon cycle of grass is, however, completely different to that of e.g. fossil fuels.
The cow’s rumen is a unique “bio-reactor” that turns grass, which is not a suitable food for humans, into valuable nutrition. The greenhouse gas methane that is emitted as a side product will be bound in the grass within around 10 years.
The carbon footprint of Finnish milk production is one of the smallest in the world and has been halved during the last few decades as a result of the selective breeding of cows and development of feed.
Valio participates actively in research conducted at the University of Umeå, which studies the greenhouse gas emissions of cows and aims to find solutions to reduce them that are applicable to Finnish milk production.
|
 |
|
|
|
The cow’s rumen is a unique “bio-reactor” that turns grass, which is not a suitable food for humans, into valuable nutrition. The greenhouse gas methane that is emitted as a side product will be bound in the grass within around 10 years.
|
|
|
Site map