Today, the importance of healthy eating has been established globally as one of the most important factors in living a healthy life and ranked even higher than, for example, high blood pressure and being overweight. Healthy eating, as defined by dietary guidelines across the globe, is generally characterised as a diet that contains a diversity of foods, with special emphasis on vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains, fish and low-fat dairy products. Unhealthy dietary patterns, either it is in relation to eating too much, the wrong type of food, or not having enough nutritious foods to include in your daily diet is one global health challenge today and for the future. A challenge whereby we as one of the largest dairy cooperatives providing dairy products to more than 100 countries globally can participate to with solutions.
Arla is dedicated to promoting Good Food Habits and making it easier for people to live healthier lives. We believe that Good Food Habits are the foundation for establishing and maintaining a healthy, balanced and more sustainable diet. Dairy products, forming important parts of food cultures around the world, have unique and complex tastes that cannot be mimicked by artificial processes. To include milk and dairy products in your daily diet is a simple, tasty and resource efficient way to constitute a healthy diet for people of all ages.
The foods included in healthy dietary patterns may vary greatly between different regions, but a common trait is that naturally nutrient-rich foods such as dairy delivers health in global perspective. An easy way to build a healthy diet is to include dairy on a daily basis. We often describe milk as 'naturally nutrient dense', as milk naturally contains many nutrients, e.g. protein, calcium, vitamin B2 and B12, iodine, phosphorous and potassium in relation to how much energy (calories) it contains.
However, no food should be eaten in isolation and dairy’s health potential is only released if consumed in combination with a variety of other natural and healthy foods.
Also, as one of the world's leading dairy companies, we also have the innovative power to develop improved products and new initiatives that can inspire more health in everyday life. This means that Arla has both a responsibility and unique opportunity for making a difference to global diet-related health challenges.