MILK and dairy are an important part of a healthy balanced diet and provide essential nutrients like protein, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iodine, vitamin A, B2, B5 and B12.
These help with strong bones, muscles, nerves, immune system, eyesight and reducing tiredness. If you’re following a vegan diet the Alpro brand has lots of these nutrients added in their soya and other plant-based milks and yoghurts. You don’t always have to go for the Alpro brand and can check out other brands like Growers Harvest, Oatly and Almond Breeze as well as supermarket own brands. But be sure that they have added vitamin B2, B12, calcium and iodine.
Vegan cheese brands include Sheese and Violife, which are readily available in most supermarkets too. The Violife brand also has added vitamin B12 but these vegan cheeses aren’t good sources of vitamin B2, calcium and/or iodine, unlike the other plant-based milks described previously.
Portion sizes for dairy or vegan alternatives are a third of a pint glass for milk, yoghurt is just under quarter of a pint glass with cheese a portion the size of a matchbox.
Dairy has saturated fat and too much can raise cholesterol so always try and keep saturated fat below 20g-30g per day for females and males. The same for the saturated fat in vegan cheese brands that use coconut oil and coconut milks.
Sticking to portion sizes is fine but always check your labels. If watching cholesterol, go for low fat dairy and, if vegan, keep the vegan cheese brands described previously at a minimum.
•Lee McCusker (BA; MSc; MSc; MSc; ANutr; SENr) is a registered nutritionist from Belfast and can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Email: attentive nutrition@gmail.com
