DRY SKIM MILK IN LOW COST DIETS1

Abstract

Milk is a nearly complete food, furnishing proteins of high quality, essential minerals in easily assimilable form, and several of the vitamins as well as other nutrients. It is widely accepted that unless there are specific contraindications, the diet of young persons should contain liberal daily allowances of milk (30). At present a large part of the population of the United States is consuming less milk than is generally regarded as adequate for optimum growth and vigorous health (29). Among families whose food expenditures are moderate or liberal, the problem of adequate milk consumption is largely an educational one. In low income groups, in which the money expended for food is greatly restricted, improvement of the diet through the extension and increase of milk consumption, while still dependent upon intelligent food selection, is more closely related the availability of inexpensive forms of milk. Dry skim milk affords a number of economies which greatly reduce the cost of milk solids other than fat the consumer. The use of dry skim milk in the diet increases the mineral and vitamin intakes with relatively small addition the food expenses. Although dry skim milk contains practically none of the fat of whole milk, and its vitamins A, C, and D contents are negligible, it provides, unimpaired, the solids other than fat of fresh milk as well as vitamin B and riboflavin (vitamin G). The transportation and delivery costs of milk solids in the form of dry skim milk are significantly less than those of milk in the fluid form as practically all of the water has been removed. The product can be stored unrefrigerated for considerable periods of time without deterioration. Experiments in the Bureau of Dairy Industry have shown that inexpensive packaging in laminated-glassine-lined paper bags gives adequate protection for 5 weeks when kept at 730F. in an atmosphere having a relative humidity of from 85 95 per cent. In such a container, or similarly protected, dry skim milk can be stored in the home without refrigeration. Dry skim milk has been widely used industrially in bread making and in the manufacture of candy, confectionery and ice cream. Brands tested by the United States Public Health Service have been found yield a reconstructed milk, which, under a pediatrician's supervision, can be used as a safe and satisfactory substitute for fluid milk in infant feeding (5, 27). Roberts, Carlson, and MacNair, in a study of institutional diets, reported significant improvement in the quality of the diets, through dry skim milk supplements the customary fluid milk supply of the institution (17). With small addition the food expense the calcium and phosphorus intakes of nursery school children were increased by the use of dry skim milk in cooking and as added solids in milk served as a beverage (12). Supplements of 2 4 ounces per person per day of dry skim milk have been found to reduce greatly the incidence of pellagra among families which, in times of stress, subsist on a very monotonous and one-sided diet, containing very little