Perceived healthfulness of dairy products and their imitations: nutrition experts' perspective

Due to their nutritional quality, milk and dairy products are an important element of the human diet in many countries, while there is also an emerging market for their plant-based imitations. These are marketed as a healthier alternative to dairy products, employing the negative health image of saturated animal fats, the animal origin of dairy products, the prevalence of milk allergies and lactose intolerance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the healthfulness of dairy products and their imitations as perceived by experts working in the area of nutrition and food technology. The perceived healthfulness of 112 representative food products was measured using a modified Delphi method. We observed that the nutrition experts generally perceived dairy products to be healthier than their plant-based imitations. The most important negative factors influencing the experts' perception of the healthfulness of the tested products were fat, sugar and sodium content.