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Got Milk Substitutes
Federal Dietary Guidelines recommend two to three servings of milk,
yogurt, or cheese daily in order to ingest the necessary amount of
calcium. Yet the majority of non-white American adults are lactose
intolerant:1
- Asian Americans 95%
- African Americans 65%
- American Indians 65%
- Hispanic Americans 50%
- Caucasians 15%
- Entire American pop. 25%
- World population 75%
All children are born with the enzyme lactase, which allows them to
digest milk, but by the age of ten many children of non-European descent
no longer produce the enzyme. Health and civil rights groups, spearheaded
by the Congressional Black Caucus's Health Brain Trust, have urged that
the lactose intolerance of non-white Americans be taken into account when
preparing the new dietary guidelines that were issued in 2000. Donna M.
Christian-Christensen, head of the Black Caucus's committee, remarked to
the New York Times, “These are called ‘Guidelines for Americans,’
so they should reflect all Americans.”
1. Source of statistics: Richard
Grand, M.D., Tufts University Medical School.
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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