2-A-Day Dutch Lady Milk The Best Gift For Your Family

Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad (Dutch Lady Malaysia) today introduced a campaign that advocates Malaysian families to drink two servings of milk daily as part of a balanced diet. Titled 2-a-Day Milk. Haha...I've been telling my dear Lynette to take 2 Dutch Lady milk everyday and she replied me "Ok, will do!" And from time to time, I reminded her again and again just to be sure she remembers to take her 2-a-day milk.

The best gift for your family, the campaign points to drinking two servings of milk daily to reap from its nutritious benefits and more importantly, to help address nutritional gaps in Malaysian children found in SEANUTS or South East Asian Nutrition Survey. Even for adults like me, I'm taking a cup of milk together with my morning coffee and a cup of Dutch Lady Yoghurt to keep me healthy everyday.

Speaking at the campaign launch, Ms Jo-Anne Jayasiri, Marketing Manager of Dutch Lady Malaysia, highlighted that milk is a great source of nutrition for Malaysian families. “Milk is an affordable and one of the most nutritionally complete sources of nutrition for the family, helping children to grow and develop while maintaining strong bones and muscles for adults,” she said.

“However, Malaysians are not drinking enough milk,” remarked Jo-Anne. She explained that according to the 2003 Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MANS), Malaysians are only taking 0.14 servings of milk and dairy products a day, which is basically one small glass per week, as compared to the Malaysian Dietary Guideline recommendation of one to three servings per day.

“As the leading milk manufacturer in Malaysia, we see it our responsibility to contribute to the nutritional health of Malaysians and to help them build strong families. The 2-a-Day campaign is our effort to educate and encourage Malaysians to drink milk to an amount that is in accordance to Malaysian Dietary Guideline in order to reap its nutritious benefits,” said Jo-Anne.

She was also happy to announce that Dutch Lady Malaysia has partnered Nutrition Society of Malaysia and celebrity Aaron Aziz and his family to educate Malaysian families on the goodness of milk and how easy it is to incorporate two servings in Malaysian families’ daily diet.

“Families will be informed and educated through media platforms and on-ground roadshows on their nutrition status. They will also be advised by qualified nutritionists on how to incorporate two servings of milk daily as part of a balanced diet,” she said. 

Representing the Nutrition Society of Malaysia at the campaign launch was Professor Norimah Karim, honorary secretary of the local nutritionist fraternity and head of programme for Human Nutrition at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia School of Healthcare Sciences. “Milk is versatile as it comes in a form that is ready to be consumed, complements other foods and beverages, and is suitable for the whole family,” explained Prof. Norimah.

Referring to findings of SEANUTS, which indicates nearly half of the children studied are lacking in Vitamin D and one out of 20 are undernourished, Prof. Norimah said, “For undernourished children, drinking two servings of milk a day can ensure they don’t miss out on essential nutrients required daily,” she added. This Chocolate milkshake blended with Vanilla Ice Cream was so delicious, I took 2 cups of it and still craving for more of it.

She also explained that Vitamin D is important to both adults and children as it helps with the absorption of calcium in our body. “No matter how much calcium we consume through our diet, they will not be sufficiently utilised without adequate Vitamin D. In severe cases, Vitamin D deficiency can lead to rickets, a disease in which the bone tissue doesn't properly mineralize, leading to soft bones and skeletal deformities.”

“To address Vitamin D insufficiency, children should spend more time outdoors to allow the body to produce vitamin D naturally. Besides that, parents can look at their dietary intake to ensure they have enough Vitamin D.As Vitamin D is fat soluble, we can only obtain it from fishes like mackerel (ikan kembung), sardines, salmon, egg yolk and milk fortified with Vitamin D,” said Prof. Norimah.

For parents who look to Vitamin D-fortified milk, her advice is to read the nutrition labels for information. “We need about five micrograms of Vitamin D in a day according to the Ministry of Health (MOH)’s recommended nutrition intake (RNI). So, ensure the milk you choose is well-fortified with right level of Vitamin D,” she added.

Dutch Lady Malaysia’s Corporate Nutritionist Loo Mei Fong, who was also present at the campaign launch spoke about the goodness of Dutch Lady Pure Farm milk, highlighting that two servings of Dutch Lady Pure Farm milk contains the amount of Vitamin D recommended by the MOH.

Actor Aaron Aziz may be known for his heroic and romantic personas on TV, but in real life, he is a family man with a beautiful wife and three children Danish, Dwi and Dahlia, who are aged 11, nine and five,respectively.As the newly appointed ambassador for Dutch Lady PureFarm’s 2-a-Day campaign, he was present at the campaign launch with his wife Diyana Halik.

“Diyana and I have three children and they are at ages when they still need good nutrition to support their growth and development. So nutrition is one of the priorities we look at for them,” said Aaron.

“We drink milk all the time.Especially for the children, we make it a point to cultivate the habit of drinking milk since young, and one of their favourite snacks is the Dutch Lady PureFarm Chocolate or Strawberry-flavoured milk,” said Diyana.

She added: “But we were not aware that we should drink two servings or glasses a day. So we were very keen to participate in this campaign to help highlight that to all the mums out there.”

“Milk brings my family together. Despite our busy lifestyles, my wife and I always ensure we have breakfast together as often as possible. Not only that, milk is a great beverage to have for breakfast and we usually talk to our kids over breakfast, helping each other to start the day right,” disclosed Aaron.

Dutch Lady PureFarm’s 2 a Day – Milk. The best gift for your family campaign begins 10 October 2015.Dutch Lady PureFarm is the No. 1* ready-to-drink milk brand in the category. In collaboration with the Nutrition Society of Malaysia, on-ground roadshows will tour nationwide to provide nutrition status check, milk tasting and other interesting activities for families.

For more information on the campaign and the roadshow, you can log on Dutch Lady Malaysia Facebook at www.facebook.com/spread.the.goodness.of.milk or go to www.dutchlady.com.my. 

Reference: *Dutch Lady is the number 1 brand in ready-to-drink milk category in Peninsular Malaysia. Source: Nielsen Retail Audit Peninsular Malaysia MAT Dec 2014 (Liquid Milk).