Dairy Produce
Milk from domesticated animals is consumed both by infants and adults in many cultures. Dairy products such as butter and cheese make up variable amounts of most diets. On a population basis, consumption of milk and dairy products varies between zero or practically zero, to 10 per cent or more of total energy. Milk and dairy products can be good sources of protein, vitamin D and calcium. Milk and dairy products from domesticated animals typically have a high fat and saturated fat content. Some or most of this fat may be removed in processing. Milk from a variety of animals has been used by humans as post-weaning food throughout history. Cows' milk is most popular in European countries; goat, sheep and camels' milk are common in the Middle East. Water buffalo are used as a source of milk within Asia. As well as being consumed fresh, milk is also commonly processed into a wide variety of foods including cheese, fat products such as butter and ghee, and fermented products such as yoghurt. As with meat, fish and poultry, milk and dairy products are not consumed universally and several population groups avoid or restrict some or all of these foods for religious, philosophical or health reasons. On a worldwide basis, milk and dairy products contribute about 5 per cent total energy. Consumption is higher among traditional pastoral peoples in Africa, India and China, and people living in or originating from northern Europe. In these populations, milk and dairy products typically contribute around 10 per cent total energy and provide around 15-25 per cent dietary protein and fat intake. In the past 30 years, marked decreases in consumption have been seen in only a few countries in Central America, Africa and the Middle East. The increase in milk and dairy product consumption has been particularly marked in Japan and Korea. Cereals
The major types of cereals (grains) are wheat, rice, maize (corn), millet, sorghum, barley, oats and rye. Cereals and the many foods made from them are the most important single food group in the world. They form the basis of diets in many different countries. In the developing world, cereals (and other starchy foods) generally make up most of dietary volume and energy. As societies become industrialised, diets generally become less bulky and more energy-dense, cereals supply less of the total energy, and cereals and cereal products become more refined and processed in other ways. The few populations for whom cereals are not an important food group are pastoralist peoples, such as the Masai; hunters, including the Inuit and other arctic populations, who maintain their traditional way of life and diet; and populations in some regions of Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa where there is a high reliance on starchy roots, plantains and tubers. Rice is the main cereal eaten, followed by wheat and maize (corn). More wheat is grown than rice on a global basis, but much wheat goes into animal feeds. Other cereals important in particular regions include millet and sorghum, eaten in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, South America and Asia, and rye, eaten in eastern and central Europe. Cereals are eaten in very many forms. None is eaten in an unprocessed raw state; even rice eaten as boiled grains has been milled to some degree, with its outer husk and bran removed. Many cereals are milled into flours of varying degrees of extraction of husk and germ, and then made into a vast variety of foods. Widely eaten cereal-based foods include leavened and unleavened breads (such as chapatti, tortilla and pitta), noodles, pasta, dumplings and gruels or porridges. Source for nutritional information and diet facts: Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: a global perspective (1997) a report commissioned by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR).
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