This book provides a comprehensive up-to-date overview of the current literature regarding the health aspects of milk and milk products. Although commissioned by the US National Dairy Council, the text provides a balanced overview of the subject area, with the contribution of thirteen independent reviewers, each with a recognised relevant research portfolio, undoubtedly contributing to the impartiality of the book. Each chapter is very well referenced, providing a wealth of information on relevant journal articles, books, websites and government resources (largely US). The book is well written and structured in a style that is relevant to both an academic or health professional audience or for a non-scientist with some basic nutrition background. Although understandable, a minor ‘down side’ for the non-US-based reader is that all dietary recommendations, food consumption and disease statistics are from the USA, with little attempt to include more widely applicable, for example, WHO or European, data.
The 432- page book covers all major milk-related health issues and is logically divided into nine chapters. Chapter 1, entitled ‘The importance of milk and milk products in the diet’, is a comprehensive introduction to the topic and includes information on the nutrient composition of milk, various types of milk products, dietary recommendations and food consumption patterns for milk and milk products. Some information is also included here on the health attributes, with some unnecessary overlap with the following chapters. Chapters 2–7 each deal with individual health issues, namely, cardiovascular health (chapter 2), hypertension (chapter 3), cancer (chapter 4), bone health (chapter 5), oral health (chapter 6), body weight maintenance (chapter 7) and lactose digestion (chapter 8). Within these chapters a comprehensive amount of evidence from epidemiological sources, randomised controlled trials and animal and cell culture studies is provided. The inclusion of chapter 7, ‘Dairy food and a healthy weight’ and the expansion of chapter 4, ‘Dairy foods and cancer’, to include information on prostate and breast cancers in addition to colon cancer, as presented in the 1999 second edition, is timely given the large amount of research activity in these areas in the interim. The final chapter of the book, chapter 9 entitled ‘Contribution of dairy foods to health throughout the life cycle’, serves to integrate the information provided in previous chapters and provides valuable information on practical strategies to improve dairy consumption in the various age groups.
As with the second edition, which Miller, Jarvis and McBean also contributed to and edited, this third edition is an excellent book, which provides a comprehensive account of what is currently known about the health aspect of milk and milk products. The book has a large target audience, being particularly useful for individuals in dairy-based industries, nutrition researchers working in a dairy-related discipline, taught or research postgraduate students, health care professionals or the well-informed interested layperson. At £63.64 it is good value for money!
