Milk and Dairy Foods

Professor Ian Givens has undergraduate and doctoral training in biochemistry and nutrition and is a UK Registered Nutritionist. He is currently Professor of Food Chain Nutrition and Director of the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health at the University of Reading UK. His research focuses on the consequences of consuming animal-derived foods, including their contribution to nutrient supply and association with chronic disease risk across the key life stages. Current concerns include the inappropriate use of plant-based milk alternatives in the diets of children and the sub-optimal intake of bonetrophic nutrients by teenage females which is likely to increase the risk of reduced bone strength in later life, especially in the post-menopausal period. Current research includes meta-analyses on the association between dairy food consumption and cardiometabolic disease risk and cognition, and the effect of modifying the fatty acid composition of milk fat on markers of cardiovascular disease risk and the effect of milk proteins on blood pressure, haemodynamics and glycaemic control.

• 1. Dairy consumption and cardiometabolic diseases: Evidence from prospective studies2. Dairy fats and health3. Does modifying dairy fat composition by changing the diet of the dairy cow provide health benefits?4. Trans and conjugated fatty acids in dairy products: Cause for concern?5. Organic milk: Does it confer health benefits?6. Milk proteins: Their role in cardiovascular health7. Dairy products and diabetes: Role of protein on glycaemic control8. The dairy food matrix: What it is and what it does9. The role of dairy products in the development of obesity across the lifespan10. Adverse reactions to cow’s milk11. Dairy foods and bone accrual during growth and development12. Dairy foods as a source of dietary iodine13. Non-dairy milk substitutes: Are they of adequate nutritional composition?14. Dairy foods and maintenance of muscle mass in the elderly15. Dairy foods and the risk of cancer