Author(s): Kushwaha Pratibha, Dubey Ritu and Paul Virginia

Abstract:
Milk and dairy foods are nutrient-dense foods supplying energy and significant amounts of protein and micronutrients. Milk is widely consumed beverage that is essential to the diet of several millions of people worldwide because it provides important macro and micronutrients. Milk is recognized as being useful during childhood and adolescence because of its composition; however, its relatively high saturated fat proportion raises issues of potential detrimental effects, namely on the cardiovascular system. Good nutrition and access to an adequate diet and health are essential for child growth and development, body maintenance and protection from both infectious and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in adult life. Adequate nutrition and a healthy productive population are increasingly recognized not only as resulting from but also as an important prerequisite for poverty reduction and economic and social development. The advantages of milk consumption and its effects on growth and bone health were likely to have been of considerable importance while its effects on chronic diseases later in life had limited relevance to reproduction and survival. In contrast, for contemporary human populations, while childhood growth and bone strength are important for health, it is the effects of milk and dairy consumption on individual well-being and on chronic diseases and their associated economic costs that are of greater relevance.