I found the following article interesting, especially this paragraph:
"Worldwide, most people are unable to produce large amounts of
lactase. It's mainly northern Europeans and a few populations in
Africa who developed the genetic mutation that allows them to
comfortably consume milk after childhood, experts say."
I find it helpful that people are starting to understand that not
everyone can ingest every food and be healthy. All those foods
we have been told are a necessary part of a healthy diet are not
practical for very one for eat. Mainly due to the advertising of
lactose-intolerant aids, most people now "get" that some of us
can not drink milk. Hopefully an wider understanding of gluten
intolerance will soon follow. In the future I hope people start
to understand that its the intake of nutrients that are necessary
and not a set list of foods that have those nutrients.
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Government's Dairy Advice Questioned, By MIKE STOBBE, Associated
Press WriterSun Oct 30,12:43 PM ET
Americans should drink three cups of milk a day, the government
says. Kiesha Diggs ignores that advice. Diggs, who is black, is
lactose-intolerant, meaning she can't easily digest dairy
products. Three cups of milk would wreak havoc on her intestines.
"Bloating, gas, diarrhea. The whole thing," said Diggs, 36, of
Atlanta.
Her sons Denzell and Armonni have the same problem. So do as many
as 75 percent of African-Americans and 90 percent of
Asian-Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Government dietary guidelines include advice for people with
lactose intolerance that note other calcium-containing foods like
fish, broccoli and fortified orange juice. But critics say
information on milk alternatives is sometimes buried.
The debate was raised a notch this past month when a vegetarian
advocacy group filed a lawsuit aimed at getting milk producers to
label their products with a warning that milk may cause digestive
problems in lactose-intolerant people.
Milk industry officials called the lawsuit frivolous, and said
scaring people away from milk is not good health policy.
Many people already aren't eating enough fruits and vegetables,
so it's not likely they will increase vegetable intake to replace
the calcium they could get from milk, said Kelly Schriver, a
registered dietitian with the Southeast United Dairy Industry
Association.
People on both sides agree that it's a public health problem,
because many people who cut milk out of their diet don't replace
it with other sources of calcium and nutrients.
However, they don't agree on how to deal with it.
One group — which includes some nutritionists, public health
professors and animal welfare advocates — believes dietary
recommendations should acknowledge the problems and try to work
around them. The government should clearly explain to minority
groups that they can get needed calcium and other nutrients like
vitamin D from vegetables and other sources, they say.
Among them is Joyce Guinyard, who works for an organization
trying to improve health education in black communities in the
Los Angeles area.
"There is no real understanding that there's a substitute (for
milk)," said Guinyard.
The other group — which includes other nutritionists, the dairy
industry and a national black physicians organization — wants to
get out the message that most blacks don't suffer symptoms if
they consume small amounts of dairy products.
"Since nutritionists are not ready to give up recommending milk
as a nourishing food, I guess the message is to help people who
see themselves as lactose-intolerant to take a cup of milk," said
David Schardt, nutritionist at the Center for Science in the
Public Interest.
Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest significant
amounts of lactose, a sugar in milk. It stems from a shortage of
the enzyme lactase, produced by cells that line the small
intestine. Lactase breaks down milk sugar so it can be absorbed
into the blood.
When there's not enough lactase, undigested lactose travels to
the large intestine where it draws water (which can cause
bloating and diarrhea) and bacteria (which can cause flatulence).
Worldwide, most people are unable to produce large amounts of
lactase. It's mainly northern Europeans and a few populations in
Africa who developed the genetic mutation that allows them to
comfortably consume milk after childhood, experts say.
The prevalence of lactose intolerance probably hasn't gotten a
lot attention because many policy makers and media members are
Caucasian and don't think of it as a common problem, said Dr.
Hetal Karsan, a specialist at Atlanta's Emory University.
"It's Caucasian bias," said Karsan, a gastroenterologist who was
born in India and is lactose-intolerant.
Late last year, the National Medical Association, comprising
black physicians, issued a special report — funded by the
National Dairy Council — on the role of dairy in the diet of blacks.
It cited unpublished research that concluded only 49 percent of
blacks report ever feeling discomfort after eating dairy. It said
44 percent of black adults say they eat one or more servings of
dairy each day and that blacks get only 66 percent of the daily
recommended amounts of calcium.
The medical group recommended blacks consume three to four
servings a day of low-fat milk, cheese and/or yogurt — more than
the three servings the government recommends for the general public.
The group felt that the higher recommendation might go further in
getting blacks to meet minimum guidelines, said Dr. Winston
Price, a New York pediatrician who was one of the study's co-authors.
Price said the report was spurred by recent research that
suggests dairy products help reduce the risk of high blood
pressure and other chronic diseases in blacks.
However, an executive with the dairy council said that group
approached the doctors' association with the idea.
Public-private partnerships are necessary to get out important
public health messages, said the official, Greg Miller. He
wouldn't say how much money the group gave the doctors' association.
"It's really outrageous that a medical association would take
money from an industry group and then give out medical advice
contrary to well-understood scientific evidence," said Dan
Kinburn, a lawyer for the Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine, the vegetarian group that sued to try to force warning
labels on milk cartons.
Price insisted the dairy council funding didn't influence the
health recommendations.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture this year revised the nation's
food pyramid and provided a Web site — http://www.mypyramid.gov —
which allows individuals to type in their sex and age to get
specially tailored dietary guidelines.
The simplified list includes a recommendation for 2 or 3 cups of
milk for everyone, but only by clicking on a "tips" link can
people learn that other foods provide the same nutrients. USDA
officials say that's an improvement; information on milk
alternatives previously were given in a little-read 32-page booklet.
As for Kiesha Diggs, she forgoes most dairy products, except for
cream with coffee, accompanied by a Lactaid tablet. She and her
sons, ages 14 and 11, keep a balanced diet by loading up on
vegetables and drinking calcium-fortified orange juice.
She feels better off, she said. "It's not practical when you suffer."
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