Lactose Intolerance Among Minority Students

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Healthy Choices for Children
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National School Lunch Program

• The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a
  federally assisted meal program operating in
  public and nonprofit private schools and
  residential child care institutions. It is meant
  to provide nutritionally balanced, low-cost or
  free lunches to children each school day.
• Currently schools are required to serve cows
  milk in order to take part in the NSLP (all caps)
  and reimbursement for alternatives to cows milk
  are not provided.

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What are the alternatives to cows milk?
Alternatives include a wide variety of plant
based milks made from grains or legumes.
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Non-Dairy Milks

• Examples of plant-based milks include soymilk,
  rice milk and almond milk. Soymilk is the most
  popular in the United States.
• Like cows milk, most commercial soymilks today
  are fortified with vitamin D and calcium as well
  as other vitamins and minerals to increase their
  nutritional value.

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Lactose Intolerance Among Minority Students

• Between 4.8 to 8.5 million school children are
  lactose intolerant. For these children, dairy
  products can cause severe gastrointestinal
  distress and discomfort.
• Lactose intolerance is especially common among
  minorities, affecting up to 80 of African
  Americans, 90 to 100 of Asian Americans, and 45
  to 100 of Latinos.
• In addition to having substantially higher rates
  of lactose intolerance, African American and
  Latino students are disproportionately more
  likely to rely on free lunches provided through
  the National School Lunch Program.
• Whether due to lactose intolerance, allergy or
  other reasons, many children will not drink cows
  milk, even in the absence of alternatives
  rather, they will simply miss out on key
  nutrients that School Nutrition Programs are
  designed and obligated to provide.

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Non-dairy Alternatives Provide Students with Key
Nutrients

• Both fortified soymilk and fortified cows milk
  provide equivalent amounts of calcium, as well as
  vitamins A and D. Unlike cows milk however,
  soymilk is cholesterol free, and contains little
  or no saturated fat.
• Fortified soymilks provide at least 276mg of
  calcium as required by the School Nutrition
  Program proposed minimum nutrient standard, and
  most soymilks contain more.

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• Research published in the Journal of the American
  Dietetic Association demonstrated that a soymilk
  alternative to cows milk was well accepted by
  students and the student bodys overall calcium
  intake increased.
• Prior to the study, 79 of students chose a
  calcium rich beverage with lunch. After soymilk
  was introduced, this figure rose to 83 as some
  children switched from cows milk to soymilk and
  others who previously drank no milk at all began
  choosing soymilk.
• A survey conducted by the School Nutrition
  Association found that 10 of school districts
  already have schools offering soymilk as an a la
  carte item. Unfortunately, that means it is only
  available to students who can afford to buy it
  separately.

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Human Health

• A growing body of independent peer-reviewed
  research shows not only that dairys health
  benefits have been overstated but that dairy
  consumption may significantly increase risk for
  several major diseases

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Osteoporosis

• The Harvard Nurses Health Study, with over
  120,000 subjects, found that consumption of milk
  does not protect against hip or forearm
  fractures. In fact, those who drank 3 or more
  glasses a day actually had a slightly higher rate
  of fracture than women who drank little or no
  milk.

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Heart Disease and Cancer

• Heart Disease Many dairy products are high in
  saturated fat, a known risk factor for Americas
  leading cause of death heart disease.
• Cancer dairy consumption is known to
  substantially increase risk for breast, colon and
  prostate cancer. A 2001 review of available
  studies by researchers at Harvard University
  found that dairy intake is one of the most
  consistent dietary predictors for prostate cancer
  in the published literature.

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Environmental Impacts of Dairy

• Globally, dairy farming contributes substantially
  to the accumulation of greenhouse gases. North
  American dairy herds annually contribute more
  than 1.7 million tons of methane, a greenhouse
  gas 21 times more potent than CO2.
• Almost 12 million tons of CO2 are produced in the
  US every year just to manufacture the nitrogen
  fertilizer used to feed cows.

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Environmental Impacts of Dairy

• A substantial portion of this nitrogen runs off
  into lakes and rivers, throwing ecosystems
  dangerously out of balance.
• Increasingly industrialized dairy production is
  wreaking havoc on rural communities as they
  pollute the air with toxic gases such as ammonia
  and hydrogen sulfide and contaminate water
  supplies with nitrates and dangerous bacteria.

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Impact of Dairy on Cows

• Subject to repeated cycles of impregnation,
  birth, and lactation, dairy cows are quickly worn
  out by the demands of dairy production. While
  they have the potential to live 15-20 years, most
  dairy cows are culledi.e. sent to slaughterat 5
  or 6 years of age.
• To produce milk, a cow must give birth, and while
  nature would see her nurse and nurture her calf
  with that milk, newborn calves are taken from
  their mothers almost immediately after birth so
  that the milk can be used for human consumption.

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• Newborn male calves are
• usually sold to veal farms
• where their entire four to five
• month lifespan is often spent
• tethered in a narrow crate
• designed to restrict almost all
• movement before they are
• slaughtered at 20 weeks old.
• Female calves are raised to
• replace milk cows.

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For every problem

• The NSLP milk mandate arbitrarily dooms
  children who cannot or will not drink milk to
  substandard nutrition.
• Dairy marketing has misled the public to believe
  that milk is a perfect food. In fact, it may be
  a risk factor for some serious diseases,
  including cancer.
• More and more milk today is coming from factory
  farms that pollute our environment and contribute
  to global warming.
• Cows are not milk machines, but thats how they
  are treated. The endless cycle of pregnancy,
  birth and lactation sends these poor creatures to
  an early slaughter, often suffering from
  lameness, mastitis and other production diseases.

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There is a solution!

• Educate Yourself about alternatives to cows milk
• Build support for these alternatives in your
  community
• Contact your PTAs and school boards asking for
  dairy alternatives
• Take action nationally - Write to your members of
  congress and urge them to broaden the NSLP to
  include plant-based milks
• For more information, visit www.farmsanctuary.org
  to see steps on making changes in your community.

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References

• http//www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2
  006/NC-EST2006-02.xls
• http//jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/135/10/2379
• http//www.pcrm.org/health/prevmed/soy_health.html
  
• http//www.midwestadvocates.org/archive/mapleleaf/
  index.html
• http//www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/cesspools/cess
  pools.pdf
• http//www.pcrm.org/health/info_on_veg_diets/dairy
  .html