Ministers have stepped in to keep down the cost of nursery and primary school milk after the European Commission cut its subsidy.
Susan Deacon, the health minister, said the Scottish Executive will put in the pound;375,000 a year which has been cut by the EC, to ensure children continue to drink reduced-price milk.
“Milk is an important source of calcium and riboflavin in children’s diets, particularly (important to) those from lowincome families. Drinking milk, instead of soft drinks, helps lower the risk of tooth decay and in the teenage years milk is important for reducing the risk of osteoporosis in later life,” she said.
“Health Behaviours of Scottish Schoolchildren”, Technical Report No 3, by Joanna Todd, Rebecca Smith, Candace Currie and Gillian Small is published by The Research Unit in Health and Behaviour Change at Edinburgh University.