As the Olympics captivate us, Dr Judith Bryans, Chief Executive of Dairy UK, explains how dairy products can support both elite athletes and everyday fitness enthusiasts…
To be honest, nobody would call me an athletic type. A bit of elliptical and some time on the treadmill is about my normal speed, but during the Olympics I become an armchair elite athlete. Don’t you?
As we all cheer on the athletes competing across a range of sports (wondering how we’re going to live without artistic gymnastics in our lives) there didn’t seem to be a better time to reflect on what we as an industry bring both to the world of professional sports people, and in supporting the journeys of everyday fitness enthusiasts, with our products.
Obviously, most of us aren’t athletes competing at national or international level – but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a thing or two from the professionals about how dairy nutrients can support our own fitness journeys, and how it is an important part of a healthy and balanced diet for us all.
But at the top of the list is eating calcium rich food and a diet that’s rich in other bone-friendly nutrients, such as protein, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium and manganese, and getting enough vitamin D.
Moving Our Muscles
It goes without saying that for professional athletes building and maintaining muscle is the bedrock of their activity, no matter the sport. Muscles, along with their connecting tendons and ligaments are what give us speed, strength, stability and flexibility – all of which are put to the test by elite sportspeople. Building and maintaining them requires not only training and exercise, but also getting the right amount of protein from our diets.
Milk, cheese and yogurt are excellent in this regard; they provide high quality protein in a convenient package, easily affordable and accessible to all of us. What’s more, the protein is packaged alongside calcium, phosphorus and protein – all of which are nutrients that contribute to normal muscle function.
Healthy muscles are important for everyone, not just Olympians. We all need healthy muscles simply to go about our daily activity. It’s especially important to maintain our muscles as we age to fight muscle loss, and our activity levels and diet are also important in helping us to maintain healthy muscle.
Building Our Bones
For most of us, the first nutrient we think about in dairy is calcium, a very important mineral for our bones and teeth. Dairy products like milk, cheese and yogurt are excellent sources of calcium, which is needed for the growth and development of healthy bones throughout our life. And for elite athletes, elite bone strength is a must. Not to mention, calcium helps with those beaming smiles we see from the winner’s podium!
But calcium also has many lesser-known functions that can help with fitness and our general wellbeing. It helps our body transmit signals from our nerves to our muscles – helping them to contract when needed. It also helps to release energy from the food we eat, by transforming energy from fats into fuel for our cells. It also supports our digestion, helping the enzymes we use to digest our food and helps in the process of cell division. It’s a much-needed nutrient, and thankfully dairy is well placed to help us meet our daily requirements.
‘B’ Less Tired
Dairy products also contain nutrients which help are important in helping to fight off tiredness and fatigue – in the form of the all-important B vitamins. Milk, cheese and yogurt contain vitamins B1, B2, B5 and B12 – which help us convert food into energy. For those leading busy and active lifestyles fighting tiredness and fatigue, B12 is difficult to get outside of animal source foods – as it does not occur naturally elsewhere. So dairy products are an easy way for most of us to get some of the essential B vitamins we need.
Help To Hydrate
Exercise and activity will impact the amount of fluid we have in our bodies and influence the amount we need to take on to avoid dehydration. Of course, for those exercising at an elite level keeping adequately hydrated is incredibly important, but it’s just as important for the rest of us. Dehydration can cause headaches, dizziness, fatigue, irritability and poor concentration – and can really impact how we feel. As we exercise or spend time in warmer weather and therefore perspire more, this is something we should be particularly mindful of. As they contain fluid, milk and yogurt are great ways to help us get a good amount of hydration – with the added bonus that they’re also nutrient rich.
A protein shake with milk, an iced coffee or a yogurt bowl are all fantastic post-exercise partners to help us take on more fluids.
Our Olympic Celebrations
There are many reasons to celebrate dairy nutrition – and we certainly do year-round – but for us, the Olympics is the perfect chance to highlight dairy’s ability to support athletic performance – whether you’re a seasoned gym bunny or an ex-couch potato just starting out.
Last month I was delighted to once again join the Kite team on their weekly podcast, and I was thrilled to be joined by former Olympic rower Anna Watkins and expert Olympic sports nutritionist Wendy Martinson. Both are fantastic ambassadors for the power of dairy nutrition in sport and it was fascinating to hear how they each use dairy as part of training regimes and in the context of fuelling performance at the highest levels. I was especially moved hearing Anna recount her experience winning gold at the London Olympics, it’s a must listen for those who haven’t tuned in yet. You can catch up on the podcast here.
We’ve also already launched our own social media campaign across Facebook and Instagram, targeting younger, active consumers, in parallel with the Olympics games – delivering targeted key messages about muscle and bone health, energy and how dairy nutrients can help release energy from food.
We’re also excited to be partnering with Phily Bowden – a young professional marathon runner and firm dairy fan. She’ll be following up the closing of the games to help keep the Olympic momentum going, explaining to her following of fitness fanatics on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube how dairy helps to fuel her own workouts and showing how easy it is to fit into meal and snack occasions. Keep your eyes peeled for that mid-August.
We invite everyone to share how they use dairy to fuel their workout. For now, I hope you’ve enjoyed watching the nation unite behind our Olympic superstars and watching the best of the best, do what they do. Hopefulyl whilst enjoying an ice-cold milky latte, a cheese sandwich or a yogurt all the while…