An example of how out of step nutrition “experts” are with the needs of Natives is a study conducted in 1977 in Gastroenterology that revealed that 100 percent of Natives tested were lactose intolerant, which is a food intolerance to the sugar lactose that is found in milk products. Those suffering from lactose intolerance are deficient in the enzyme lactase. If food has not started to be digested by lactase in the stomach, food then enters the colon where it produces uncomfortable bloating, cramping and diarrhea. Almost 50 million Americans have lactose intolerance and it is estimated that 75 percent of American Indian adults have lactose intolerance. Yet, the Dietary Guidelines advises that everyone eat two or three servings of dairy foods, despite the reality that other foods such as green leafy vegetables (collards, turnip greens, spinach, kale, bok choy), oatmeal, tofu, soy milk, almonds, beans, salmon, herring, sardines, trout, tuna, and dried smelt also offer calcium.
For More Information:
Lists of Foods With Calcium:
Powerful Bones Toolbox (also lists dairy): http://www.cdc.gov/powerfulbones/parents/toolbox/list.html
Food Sources of Calcium and Vitamin D: http://www.bchealthguide.org/healthfiles/hfile68e.stm#hf003
Non-Dairy Calcium Foods:
http://home.bluegrass.net/~jclark/calcium_foods.htm
Books:
Sherlyn Skinner and Richard A. Martins, The Milk Sugar Dilemma: Living with Lactose Intolerance (1987).
Steve Carper, Milk is Not for Every Body (Facts on File, 1995).
Phyllis Z. Goldberg, How to Tolerate Lactose Intolerance: Recipes and a Guide for Eating Well Without Dairy Products (Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd., 1998).
Websites:
National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse: http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/lactoseintolerance/
MedicineNet.com: http://www.medicinenet.com/lactose_intolerance/article.htm MayoClinic.com: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lactose-intolerance/DS00530
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance (good source of information about lactose intolerance world-wide)