The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country / Opinion

Niki Bezzant: Does a bit of butter butter better?

By Niki Bezzant
Herald on Sunday·
14 Jan, 2017 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Photo / Andrew Warner

Photo / Andrew Warner

Opinion

I've been thinking about dairy.

Not just because I love cheese, and was unexpectedly able to put my experience as a judge in last year's NZ Champions of Cheese Awards to good use over the holidays.

I'm not sure who was more thrilled when the tourists from Seattle asked me, randomly, in the supermarket: "What's the best cheese in New Zealand?".

I've been thinking about dairy because posters have appeared in my neighbourhood telling me that milk is cool. Or, in fact, "cool again".

Butter, apparently, is back, too.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

These retro-cool posters are brought to us by Fonterra, mounting a dairy awareness campaign.

Leaving aside, for now, the environmental issues of dairy farming - which are well worth discussing, by the way - let's talk about nutrition and health.

I was a bit surprised to see this campaign, mostly because I wasn't aware that dairy had become uncool.

It's true a few years back, when paleo and raw diets became prominent, there was a bit of anti-dairy talk.

That hasn't really gone away, but I haven't noticed most people shunning dairy.

Butter sales globally are on the rise; possibly on the back of the 2014 Time Magazine cover which declared "Eat Butter" and the media hype about butter now being a health food.

Fonterra says its campaign was partly motivated by "dietary fads and special interest groups" who are "chipping away" at dairy's reputation.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They were reluctant to elaborate, when I asked, but I assume we're talking vegan and paleo dieters here. Being anti-dairy would be one of the few things those groups have in common.

The fads haven't really hurt sales of milk, butter and cheese, though.

Euromonitor statistics show dairy consumption in New Zealand has been steadily growing for the last 10 years.

In the main, I think most nutrition professionals would agree with Fonterra. Nutritionally, unless you have an allergy or intolerance, dairy is definitely cool.

Milk, cheese and yoghurt are useful sources of protein, vitamins and minerals.

Dairy is our main source of calcium, which is important for bone health, especially for women.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The potentially harmful fats in dairy have even been rehabilitated slightly, with emerging evidence suggesting saturated fat from dairy foods may not have the negative effect on heart health that other sources do.

As for butter; while it's still not a health food (sorry), there is wider acceptance that - as with most things - in the context of a great, healthy diet packed with plant foods, a little butter is unlikely to kill you.

The combination of saturated fat and refined carbohydrates is bad news all round, though, so that doesn't mean slathering your white bread rolls and scones with slabs of butter.

The same goes for milk. Low-fat milk is still probably better for most people (and, by the way, it is a myth that low-fat milk is "more processed" or contains added sugar).

But bottom line: including all kinds of dairy in your healthy diet, if it suits you, is - and always has been - cool.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

Premium
The Country

Inside the new luxury eatery blending Central Otago's history and cuisine

27 Jun 11:00 PM
Premium
The Country

Could a lab blunder replace 1080 poison and solve NZ’s rabbit plague?

27 Jun 10:10 PM
The Country

'Great promise': Young inventor's wool pod wows at Fieldays

27 Jun 05:02 PM

Kaibosh gets a clean-energy boost in the fight against food waste

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

Premium
Inside the new luxury eatery blending Central Otago's history and cuisine

Inside the new luxury eatery blending Central Otago's history and cuisine

27 Jun 11:00 PM

Fine dining restaurant is a nod to gold mining history and Chinese immigrants of the area.

Premium
Could a lab blunder replace 1080 poison and solve NZ’s rabbit plague?

Could a lab blunder replace 1080 poison and solve NZ’s rabbit plague?

27 Jun 10:10 PM
'Great promise': Young inventor's wool pod wows at Fieldays

'Great promise': Young inventor's wool pod wows at Fieldays

27 Jun 05:02 PM
'It's security': Push for KiwiSaver access to aid young farmers

'It's security': Push for KiwiSaver access to aid young farmers

27 Jun 05:00 PM
Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style
sponsored

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP