African-American youth fall short on calcium

Ninety-five percent of African American teen girls and 77 percent of African American teen boys don't get the bone-building calcium their growing bodies need, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. African American teens drink less milk than their Caucasian peers and their calcium intake is significantly lower. African American females (ages 12-19) fare worse; on average they drink less than one glass of milk a day and only get half the 1,300 mg of calcium that they need daily.

The teen years are crucial bone building years when the calcium and vitamin D in milk is critical yet often missed because of the increased consumption of soda and juice drinks as well as misinformation about lactose intolerance, says the National Medical Association (NMA), the leading national organization representing African American Physicians.

African American teens drink about 1 cup of fruit drink and soda a day, while girls drink more than one cup and boys more than two cups of soda every day. That's troubling, according to Mary Martin Nordness, the Nurtition Communications Director with The Southeast Dairy Association.

"In a survey of African American teens, 23 percent of the non-milk drinkers say they avoid milk due to lactose intolerance." says Nordness. "But many people with lactose intolerance can still enjoy dairy."

"Misinformation about lactose intolerance can lead people to unnecessarily cut dairy from the diet," says Jeanette Newton Keith, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and NMA committee member. "Yet, milk provides calcium plus eight other essential nutrients and without milk it is very difficult to consume adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D."

Leading health researchers say that calcium from dairy is key to osteoporosis prevention. "Research shows that minority women are at a much greater risk for developing osteoporosis than previously believed. Doctors and parents need to help kids and teens focus on preventing this disease by incorporating milk and other milk products into the daily eating plan," says Keith.

Tips For Tolerance

The NMA recommends the following tips to gradually add dairy foods to the diet to help get the three to four daily servings that growing bodies need.

• Drink milk in small portions throughout the day with meals. Most people can comfortably enjoy an eight-ounce glass of milk.
• Look for lactose-reduced or lactose-free milk in the dairy case at your store.
• Enjoy aged hard cheeses, such as Cheddar, Colby, Swiss and Parmesan, which are naturally low in lactose and easy to enjoy.
• Make yogurt part of your daily meal plan. Live, active cultures in yogurt help digest the lactose for you.
• Turn any carton of milk into lactose-reduced milk by just adding a few drops of the lactase enzyme that you can find at most pharmacies. Or, look for lactase enzyme caplets at your drug store.
• Check with your doctor for diagnosis of lactose intolerance and be sure to follow their advice.