Full fat milk is back in public favour. The dairy industry body Dairy Australia said Australians are switching from lower fat options thanks to research suggesting higher fat content dairy products are no worse for heart health.
Full cream milk is now dominating sales at 71% of the Australian milk market – a 10% jump in popularity over 10 years, according to the industry body’s latest supermarket sales data.
“What is driving that is a realisation that full fat dairy milk is not bad for you,” Glenys Zucco, a marketing manager and dietician with Dairy Australia, said.
A decade ago, full fat dairy products were associated with weight gain, heart disease, high cholesterol and chronic illnesses, she said.
But these misconceptions around full fat dairy products “we now know are untrue,” said Jemma O’Hanlon, the vice-president of Dieticians Australia.
“We know that regardless of the choice between dairy milks, the outcomes for our weight and heart health are not impacted.
“And we have known for years the benefits of milk in general,” O’Hanlon said, pointing to milk’s high levels of calcium and nutrients such as zinc and potassium.
Baristas are also noticing the fall of skim milk – though full fat milk isn’t necessarily taking its place.
“It is the rise of alternative milks that has meant less skim sales in cafes,” Mitchell Antman, the co-owner of One Another cafe in Sydney, said.
Antman has been working as a barista for 13 years. He has seen skim milk drop from 50% to less than 10% of total sales in his cafe over four years. “People that drank skim milk were more health conscious, and switched to … alternatives like almond milk when they hit the market.”
He said oat milk now makes up at least 30% of his total sales, with soy milk sales sitting around 10%. Full fat milk makes up the rest, holding steady at around the 50% mark.
Dairy Australia is not worried about the growth of alternative milk options in cafes. Only 2% of Australians exclusively buy alternative milks from supermarkets, according to their data.
“We know 98% of Australians buy only dairy milk weekly,” Zucco said. “Around 40% of adults do consume some sort of alternative” – but that is alongside dairy milk.
Zucco also said that plant-based milk alternatives are not equivalent to dairy products. O’Hanlon said a mix of plant-based and dairy milks can be healthy, and suggested plant-based options fortified with calcium and protein.
She recommended shoppers check carton labels for products with at least 100mg of calcium per 100g, and warned that almond, oat and rice are lower-protein options.
“Australians may choose plant milk for a range of reasons,” she said. “It could be personal taste preference, related to the environment, or people think they are lower in calories and therefore a better choice.”
Antman gets the appeal of the mix. “A lot of people would be drinking alternative milks in coffees, but would have full cream or skim on their cereal at home.”
“That is the same as me,” he said. “I would never have a soy milkshake, for example. I’m going full cream with that.”
