4 K
. Maijala Livestock Production Science 65 2000 1 –18
province was given much advice including avoidance image of milk fat and milk and has led to extreme
of milk fat in daily food. The population of neigh- avoidance by people for whom many components of
bouring province was used as a control. The CHD- milk are important. Further the situation has been
mortality of North-Karelian men fell 41 in 1967– exploited by promoters of competing products.
87, and that of the control province 47. For women the figures were 25 and 34, respectively Puska
3.2. Unfortunate consequences of recommendations et al., 1983. The total mortality of men fell 2.3 and
2.2 1000 in 1972–77, and that of women 0.9 and The recommendations were in conflict with previ-
1.3 1000, respectively. It is difficult to understand ous ideas about the value of milk as a healthy
why these results have been used in propaganda foodstuff and its economical biological advantage-
against use of milk fat since then. ousness, which had been central to the development
However, there has been increasing criticism of of specialist dairy cattle production for a century or
the original hypotheses in recent years and complete more. However the new ideas, often exaggerated,
books have
been published
on the
subject have had considerable influence on milk production.
¨ Ravnskov, 1991; Werko and Olsson, 1991; Apfel-
Because of the decreased consumption, the product- baum, 1992; Mann, 1993; Gurr, 1999. There are
ion of butter in Europe has decreased by 29 in also many literature reviews including also positive
1980–98 Fig. 1. The opposite trend for cheese research results concerning the health effects of milk
1 35has not compensated in milk production, and dairy products McGill, 1979; Stehbens, 1989;
which has declined by 13, which means ca. 700 Muldoon et al., 1990; Blaxter and Webster, 1991;
million kg decrease in production of milk protein and Ulbricht and Southgate, 1991; Jacobs et al., 1992;
corresponding decreases in supplies of many other McNamara, 1992; Harper, 1993; Rosenman, 1993;
valuable ingredients of milk. Fig. 2 shows that the Sieber, 1994; Renner, 1995. Having in mind the
development has been somewhat different in differ- slow change in some sectors of animal production, it
ent parts of Europe. In Eastern European countries has thus become topical to consider the extent to
the fall became greater in the 1990s due to the which it is desirable to follow these ideas in choos-
political changes which also reduced cheese pro- ing goals and strategies for the development of
duction. In the Mediterranean countries both butter animal production in its different phases and sectors.
and cheese production increased. The decreased consumption of dairy products has contributed to
unemployment and economic depression in many
3. Dietary recommendations countries in the 1990s.
The demands for decreasing the fat content of 3.1. Appearance
milk have confused the setting of breeding goals in cattle, which should be long-term Maijala, 1976.
The results of research based on the C and lipid- Since each additional trait in a breeding programme
hypotheses were published widely in the 1950s and will retard the progress in main goals, the number of
1960s and began to influence consumption patterns traits to be improved should be kept as small as
in North-America and Northern Europe. Since 1977, possible giving stability and predictability. In meat
recommendations have been given officially, first in production, genetic programmes to decrease fat
USA and Canada Harper, 1993. Typical of the content is much easier, since animals can be slaug-
recommendations was the advice to avoid animal fats htered before the accumulation of fat. Up to 60 of
and to favour fat-free low-fat milk products and the contents of milk fat and protein are up de-
PUFA instead of SFA with no exception for short- termined by the same genes. The corresponding
chained FA. The ratio P S 5 PUFA SFA was figure for fat and protein yields is 80, since the
considered a useful measure of an optimal diet Keys contents and milk yields are genetically negatively
et al., 1957. The desire for simplistic advice which correlated with each other r 5 2 0.3. Thus, the
is easily understood by consumers has harmed the recommendation to avoid animal fats makes milk
K . Maijala Livestock Production Science 65 2000 1 –18
5
Fig. 1. Changes in European dairy production in 1980–98 based on FAO Production Year Books.
Fig. 2. Changes of milk production in different regions of Europe in 1980–98 based on FAO Production Year Books.
production difficult. Another consequence is the 3.3. Problems of dietary recommendations
difficulty in preserving cattle breeds and genetic variation within breeds for unpredictable future
The strict dietary recommendations of recent needs, since cows with concentrated milk move out
decades in many countries appear very narrow, being of favour.
based only on the alleged danger of C and animal
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. Maijala Livestock Production Science 65 2000 1 –18
fats. Too little attention has been paid to other d A dairy cow produces a calf per year 1 own
aspects of health, to different needs of different age beef, thus increasing the biological and econ-
classes, genetic differences between individuals, omical efficiency.
aspects of national and private economies, physio- e Cattle converts roughages to valuable prod-
logical and social needs, preservation of open land- ucts, helps in preserving green, open landscape
scapes and future needs of the world population, and in utilizing unarable areas.
especially in regions where millions are nutritionally f Cattle can utilize residues of agriculture and
in need. Many nutritional and health aspects of industry.
animal products, interactions between nutrients, as g Dairy production promotes sustainable ag-
well as balance, versatility and moderation of daily riculture and is characterized by some basic
food have been entirely forgotten. The campaign to biological, economic and social facts, for example
simplify so that ‘the people could understand’ has the numbers of cows cannot be increased quickly,
been taken too far and it is easy to see that the the fat of milk takes half of the feed energy eaten
awakening of exaggerated fears has not served the by the cow, continuation of milk production is
overall well-being of humans. difficult if fat is not used, and ceasing milk
One problem connected with the recommendations production has unfortunate social and economic
is that they have been developed mainly by medical consequences.
researchers, especially by those on heart diseases. The coverage of nutrition in their education is rarely
large: for example in the five medical faculties in
4. Changing ideas on the significance of C and
