Economics of Dairy’s Benefits

The health benefits of dairy consumption have been consistently promoted in marketing and advocacy campaigns. But there have been surprisingly few attempts to quantify the benefits in economic terms.

One such attempt was published in 2004 by medical scientists Dr. David McCarron and Dr. Robert Heaney. Drawing from prospective longitudinal studies and randomised controlled trials of disorders ranging from hypertension, osteoporosis, kidney stones, type 2 diabetes, pre-eclamsia and stroke, they looked at direct-cost benefits associated with the reduction of these diseases in the United States by increasing the consumption of milk and dairy products to the recommended dietary levels of 3-4 servings per day.

Dr. McCarron and Dr. Heaney used conservative estimates of the potential benefits, only taking into account the direct costs, and not the indirect costs that would result from productivity losses due to time off work or mortality. Based on these parameters, they estimated a first-year benefit of $US 26 billion and a five-year benefit exceeding $US 200 billion.

Working with Dr. Heaney and a firm of international consultants, GDP is now seeking to expand this work. Prior to the Annual Meeting in October, GDP will have established a spreadsheet-based model capturing the projected benefits, as shown by the current science, arising from the ‘adequate’ consumption of dairy in the U.S., including some estimates of indirect costs.

Once the model is complete, the next step is to expand the model geographically to cover as many separate markets as possible, using the same methodology. In particular, we are seeking to focus the work on demonstrating the economic benefits derived from increased milk consumption in those at risk of, or suffering from, the disorders associated with metabolic syndrome.

If, as the scientific evidence seems to suggest, dairy is associated with reducing the on-set or effect of the conditions that make up metabolic syndrome, then we would hope to be able to provide useful evidence of the benefit of dairy in combating this epidemic. This work takes on added significance as obesity rates continue to grow and will be a major subject of debate in the coming months and years.