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.“
