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The Rural Voice, 1993-05, Page 56GREY County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER 44610th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1 P9 519-364-3050 ' The Rural Voice is provided to all Grey County Farmers by the GCFA. One of the main reasons why our dairy industry's future looks so dark is the surplus of butterfat. The cause of this surplus is the myth that butterfat is unhealthy. As dairy farmers we are faced with price shifts and cuts because of this decreased consumption of butterfat products. The industry must stop this trend and educate people that butterfat and cream arc healthy products as well as great tasting. We all know the more butterfat we take out of dairy products the less taste they have. Milk and milk products have always been promoted by words like nutritious and great tasting. Today the key word in dairy is protein, you must breed and feed for protein, that's where the future is. The problem is no cow will ever give high protein milk with no fat. So we must in the long term increase our promoting of butterfat. There is also a need for new products, for example, butter oil (which is butterfat with no water or milk scrum and is easier to make than butter) could compete against cooking oils. It's confusing to me as we switch to more emphasis on protein that our milk board's nutrition educator is quoted as saying, "in the past protein was considered a positive attribute, now it's no longer the case. In my view it would not be positive to focus on the protein value of milk to increase consumption." What are we going to use to increase consumption? We don't want to end up like beer companies who base their sales campaigns on how cold their product is or how it was filtered. GCFA Directors' Meeting Thursday, May 27, 1993 OMAF Boardroom, Markdale 8:00 p.m. Members are welcome to attend 52 THE RURAL VOICE Cream still rises to the top It's time we got back the market that commercials like "you can always use you know" (margarine commercials) won away. People must change their way of thinking towards fat in their diets. You must have the proper fats in your diet to live long and healthy lives. Butterfat products are an excellent way of getting these fats. I realize this task of re-educating consumers is a long and slow process but it must be done if we want to keep milking cows. At the very least I hope our friends and families can start using more milk and butterfat products without being scared to death about "the world's most wholesome drink." Recently I have read a couple of excellent articles about milk and cream. One of them was written by Annette Stevens, an author, food science teacher and dairy farmer from Alberta. The following are facts about dairy products which you may or may not know. Photocopies of the entire articles can be obtained from the Grey County Federation of Agriculture office in Hanover. 1. Cream is an excellent fat source which requires no hydrogen- ation, addition of chemicals or alterations. 2. Cream contains 6X the protein of other baking fats, margarines or oils. 3. One cup of cream contains 170 mg of calcium, shortenings and oils don't have any. 4. Fats in milk coat the lining of our stomachs preventing ulcers. 5. 40 per cent of the fat in whipping cream is unsaturated fat. 6. One cup of cream contains 88 grams of fat compared to shortening, containing 108 grams of fat in one- half cup. One-half cup of oil contains 115 grams of fat. 7. Many fat products claim to be cholesterol free but can be high in fat and calories. 8. Unsaturated fats that have been hydrogenated contain (trans) fatty acids which are like saturated fats to our bodies. 9. Research and pharmaceutical companies have spent the last 25 years on cholesterol-lowering products. During this time they have convinced the public dairy fat is bad. Today sales of cardiovascular drugs are rising four per cent a year, while sales of cholesterol-lowering agents are growing 35 per cent a year. 10. In September 1992 the Journal of Circulation reported that a comprehensive review of 19 studies of 650,000 men and women world wide led some prominent researchers to call for a scaling back of wide spread cholesterol reduction programs. 11. Growth of mammary cancer cells may be slowed by a compound in milk according to a study at Cornell University. 12. Milk drinkers and butter eaters actually may be less prone to heart attacks according to a 10 -year British study. Of 4,200 middle-aged men studied, those who drank just a pint of milk every day were 10 times less likely to have a heart attack than those who drank no milk at all. Butter eaters had half as many heart attacks as those who switched to margarine during the 10 -year study. 13. Whole milk should be part of a baby's diet starting at six months, says the American Academy of Pediatrics. They also recommend against skim or low fat milk to children under two years of age. References from: Hoard's Dairymen, November 1992 "In Defense of Milk", by Hoard's staff. March 1993, "We are Missing Out By Not Pushing Cream" by Annette Stevens. JeffTorrie GCFA Executive Director Chesley Agri -Fair Free Draw Winners Dennis White, R.R. 4, Paisley (socket set); Amy Elder, R.R. 4, Chesley (set of wrenches) and Sheila Klerks, Chesley (toolbox).