Teenage girls need more milk

In an attempt combat brittle bone disease in later life, teenage girls in the UK are being encouraged to drink milk and to eat more yoghurt and cheese.

A multimillion-pound advertising campaign by the Government-funded Milk Development Council (MDC), aims to kill the myth that milk is fattening and is reminding young women that extra calcium is good for their looks, helps skin condition and gives them shiny hair.

The “Naturally Beautiful” campaign tells girls to drink milk and dairy products as part of their daily beauty regime and to help strengthen the body’s bones.

Extra calcium cuts down the incidence of osteoporosis in older women, which is costing the taxpayer some £1.7 billion a year in treatment.

The campaign, funded by the European Union, was organised after MDC Research found that while 80 per cent of teenage girls thought that milk and dairy food was good for them, only one in four ate three or more of these foods a day, and a third of mothers and daughters aged 11 to 16 were found to have had no idea that milk would help to protect against brittle bone disease.

The first adverts have appeared in Top of the Pops and Sneak magazines and are also to feature in other titles next month. There will also be advertisements on radio and in cinemas.