Industry-funded study of the week: widespread nutrient deficiencies Down Under
I saw this in DairyReporter, a newsletter I subscribe to.
Multi-nutrient inadequacies in ANZ linked to diet-related disease calls for food-based interventions – a2 Milk-funded study. A study has found multi-nutrient inadequacies within the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) populations, including nutrients associated with diet-related disease, highlighting the need for public policies and food-based recommendations to promote intake…. Read more
A2-milk again? The last time I wrote about it, I titled my comments, A2 milk: still making claims based on industry-funded research.
Well, here’s the latest .
The study: Priority nutrients to address malnutrition and diet-related diseases in Australia and New Zealand. Front. Nutr., 12 March 2024. Volume 11 – 2024 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2024.1370550.
The alarming results: 22 of 31 essential nutrients are consumed by people in Australia and New Zealand below recommended levels, particularly vitamin D, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, folate, dietary fibre.
Funding: “The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This project has been funded by a research grant from The a2 Milk Company. The funding body had no contribution to the methodology, data analysis, drafting of the manuscript, nor interpretation of the findings.”
Comment: The methods depend on reported intake as compared to nutritional standards. The study does not attempt to correlate its findings with clinical signs of nutrient deficiency in the study populations studied. I doubt there were any. Vitamin deficiency symptoms are rarely seen in well-fed populations. Instead, the principal diet-related diseases are those related to eating too much food—obesity and its consequences—just as they are in the U.S.
Why would the A2-Milk Company care about this topic? My guess: so you will want to remedy this situation by drinking A2-milk.
