Dairy Australia

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Dairy Australia is committed to helping the dairy industry to be collaborative, innovative, sustainable and competitive against both international dairy industries and substitute products.

Dairy Australia has developed an educational website called 'Discover Dairy'. It has been designed to educate both the education community and the broader Australian community about the benefits of consuming three serves of dairy (a glass of milk, a piece of cheese and a tub of yogurt) every day, as part of a balanced diet.

'Discover Dairy' was developed to address the issue that the majority of Australian children do not consume enough calcium, potentially putting them at risk of poor bone health. The latest Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey revealed that 35 to 89% of children between the ages of 9 and 16 consume less than the estimated average requirement (EAR) for calcium.

According to the survey, the dairy food intake (relative to the rest of their diet) declines once children reach school age. Children between the ages of 12 and 16 are most likely to consume less calcium than the estimated average requirement (EAR) and 82 to 89% of girls in this age bracket did not meet the EAR for calcium.

Dairy foods provide a total health package, not only as the richest and best source of calcium for Australians, but also because they naturally contain many other nutrients that are essential for good health. And because dairy foods taste great it's easy to enjoy them every day!

Sample educational resource material is available in the Education Resources section of this website and the complete Discover Dairy website can be found at: www.dairy.edu.au/discoverdairy