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A warning of milk for
African-Americans
America’s national culture on border
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D on't drink your m ilk’ may sound as un-American as “don’t eat apple pie.”
Indeed, many health professionals mistakenly regard cow ’s milk as wholesome,
even necessary.
But for better health, African Americans and everyone else should kick the
dairy habits, an issue virtually ignored by the newly released Dietary Guidelines
for Americans.
O f course, for generations, most parents and physicians have urged children
to drink up their glasses o f milk. To be sure, they generally had good intentions
- but they also had been flooded with endless promotions and ads from the
financially well-set dairy industry. More recently, it’s hard to miss those here,
there, and everywhere milk-mustache and Got Milk? billboards, bus ads, print
ads, TV spots, and classroom promotions. The milk industry even hit the road
with its Better Bones Tour,” visiting some 100 U S. cities with trucks carrying
displays claiming a beneficial relationship between dairy and osteoporosis.
Science, however, has been raining on dairy’s parade. Observations in South
African black townships, with virtually no dairy consumption, showed residents
there experience almost no osteoporosis, while the chronic bones disease
affects millions in dairy-devouring places such as Scandinavia, Canada, and
the Untied States. In a finding published in the American Journal o f Public
Health inJune 1997, the 12-year Harvard Nurses’ Studyofalmost78,OOOpeople
found those regularly consuming dairy products had no protection at all
against hip and forearm fractures. Indeed, women drinking three glasses ofmilk
daily had more fractures than women whom rarely or never touched milk.
Other studies are investigating dairy ’ s links with breast cancer, ovarian cancer,
iron deficiency, insulin-dependent diabetes, cataracts, food allergies, heart
disease, asthma, and colic. Common toxic contaminants in dairy include
pesticides, drug, and antibiotic traces
A growing number o f nutritionist and doctors - the late “world pediatrician”
and progressive activist Benjamin Spock, M.D., among th e m - have, in effect,
wiped o ff their milk mustaches,
From my perspective as an African American, physician, there is another
troubling side to dairy prom otions, and especially to governm ent
recommendations that it be part o f every school lunch meal and similar nutrition
programs.
While only about 15 to 20 percent ofU. S. whites are intolerant o f the milk sugar
lactose, some 95 percent o f Asian Americans, about 70 percent o f African
Americans and Native Americans, and more than 50 percent o f Mexican
Americans cannot digest it. Many get quite sick from it. Nature starts to remove
the enzymes that digest milk sugar once we have passed the age o f weaning.
Indeed, one can call lactose intolerance nature’s normal warning signal not to
“do dairy,” akin to the protective pain signals prompting you to snatch your
hand away from a hot stovetop. O f course, some advocate taking lactose-
tolerance pills or adding small amounts o f dairy at intervals throughout the day
to “trick” the body into accepting milk, ice cream, and so on. But, if you
wouldn’t want to trick your hand into not feeling a sparingly painful stovetop.
Why would you want to temporarily mask the unhealthy downside o f dairy?
Being lactose-intolerant really constitutes genetic good luck.
It’s bad enough that current federal dietary guidelines encourage meat
consumption though they do list nutritionally sound alternatives, such as
legumes (beans and peas).
However, the 1992-issued federal Food Guide Pyramid’s dairy section” doesn’t
even bother to list substitutes, through the 2000 Dietary Guidelines for
Americans draft does finally mention soymilk. Indeed, healthy dairy-free
alternatives such as fortified soymilk and calcium-set tofu have become
increasing available in supermarkets, as well as in health food stores and food
co-ops.
Calcium, dairy’s big “health” selling point, does indeed strengthen teeth and
bones. But it’s readily absorbable from broccoli, kale, mustard greens, turnip
greens, Brussels spouts, pinto beans, navy beans, black-eyed-peas, calcium-
set tofu, and, o f course, the new fortified orange juice and apple juice products.
And none o f those haul the health-damaging freight that dairy does.
So, for your health’s sake, why not replace cow ’s milk with soymilk and other
alternatives?
Milton R. Mills., a Stanford University-trained physician specializing in
nutrition, practices in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.-based and
volunteers as associate directors o f preventive medicine at the D.C.-based
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
T he P o r t l a n d O bserver
People who rai 1 that America’s a national culture” is by
immigrants never explain which national culture they
are referring to.
I recently visited,my hometown o f Laredo, Texas,
which is located on our nation’s Southern border. In
grocery stores and department stores half the signs
are in Spanish and store employees greet people in
Spanish. Thereare few pizza parlors and even a Chinese
restaurant, but they can’t compare to the many
restaurants selling enchiladas, menudo, chalupas,
and tacos.
Laredo, which today has a population o f 155,000, was
founded was founded in 1755 by a Spanish officer
named Don Tomas Sanchez de Barrera y Gallardo, who
named the town Villa de San Agustin de Laredo, after
a town in Spain. Today, San Augustin Plaza is located
a short distance from Laredo, after a town downtown
international brides, which connect the city to Nuevo
Lardo, Mexico (population 300,000).
One o f the major downtown streets in Laredo is named
Hidalgo Street, after Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the
father o f Mexican independence. Another is Iturbibe
Street, named after Emperor Agustin Iturbibe, the first
ruler o f independent Mexico. During my recent visit to
Laredo, I noticed that the street in a brand new
residential subdivision had been named after coastal
cities in Mexico, such as Puerto Vallarta.
After Texas won its independence from Mexico in
1836, Laredo refused to recognize Texas rule and for
a time served as capital o f the Republic o f the Rio
Grande,
Which consisted o f a coalition o f three northern
Mexico states and southwest Texas which were
themselves revolting against Mexico rule, states and
southwest Texas, Treaty o f Guadalupe Hidalgo at the
end o f the Mexican war in 1848, the war by which the
United States acquired the northern half o f Mexico,
Laredo officially became part o f the United States. (At
the same time, Nuevo Laredo, on the other side o f the
Rio Grande, was founded by Mexico citizens who
wanted to remain in Mexico rather than live in the
United States.)
The long-established culture in Laredo has been one
in which people informally converse with each other
in either English or Spanish (or Tex-Mex, a peculiar
blend o f languages in which the conversant slip back
and forth Between English and Spanish, sometimes
even within the same sentence). The local Spanish
television channel and the English-languages ones.
Generally people are indifferent to the particular
language being spoken, and everyone is accepting o f
those who speak only English, sometimes even
marrying them (as my mother did).
But even the English-only crowed speaks a little
Spanish when they visit what was once Mexico. After
all, when was the last time you heard anyone say that
he personally saw St. Anthony and, after traveling
through the Pass, visited St. Francis, and ended up
visiting the Angels (San Antonio, El Pasco, San
Francisco, and Los Angeles)?
Oh, did 1 mention that for more than 100 years, Laredo
has had the largest bash In the county celebrating
George Washington’s birthday? Sixteen fun- filled days
every February, including a grand parade with George
and Martha Washington and their Court in Colonial
garb on floats, the Society o f Martha Washington
Pageant and Ball, the Princess Pocahontas Pageant
and Ball, Noche Mexicana, Caballeros Cocktail Party,
Streets o f Laredo Jamboozee (including such musical
groups as “Tommy and the Tomcats” and “Javier
Molina & El Dorado,”) fireworks, street parties, and a
fantastic Jalapeno Festival (including, o f course, a
Jalapeno spitting contest).
If those who are dedicated to preserving A m erica’s
“national culture” are referring to the culture in Laredo
(which really is located inside the United States),
they’ll find plenty o f support among the citizenry o f
this great American city located on the banks o f the Rio
Grande.
Mr. Hom bergeris founder and president ofThe Future
ofFreedom Foundation (www.fff.org) Fairfax. VA.
PO Box 31 3 7
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D E A D L IN E S
NAACP welcomes landmark settlement
against life insurance company that
discriminate against blacks
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Kweisi Mfume, President & CEO,
N a tio n a l A sso c ia tio n fo r the
Advancement o f C olored People
(NAACP), welcomed the $206million
settlement o f a federal class-action
lawsuit against the American General
Life and Accident Insurance Co. For
overcharging millions o f mostly poor,
b lack custom ers for prem ium s
because o f their race.
M fume said. “NAACP Florida Board
Members Adora Obi Nweze and Leon
Russell along with Florida Insurance
Commissioner Bill Nelson worked
diligently
In th is p ro cess and are to be
commended for brining this decades-
long discriminatory practice to its
deserved end."
Under the agreement, announced
W e d n e sd a y , n e a rly 5 m illio n
policyholders or their beneficiaries
are eligible to receive some from o f
reliefafter being charged higher rates
for burial and life insurance policies
w ell after the race-based sales
I
practices were supposed to have
been stopped with the passage o f the
C ivi I Rights Act o f 1964.
The NAACP is expected to receive $2
million as part o f the settlement that
award $7.5 million in penalties to
several states including Florida,
G eorgia, M aryland, T ennessee,
Virginia and the District ofColumbia.
All 50 states are expected to sign the
agreement.
“The inclusion o f the NAACP in this
landmark settlement means a chance
fo r us to fu rth e r em pow er
communities and the people most
affected by the illegal practices o f
American General,” said Mfume.
Founded in 1909, The National
Association for the Advancement o f
Colored People (NAACP) is the
nation ’ s oldest and largest civil rights
organization. Its half-million adults
and youth members throughout the
United States and the World are the
premier advocate for civil rights in
their communities, conducting voter
registration drives and monitoring
equal opportunity in the pubic and
private sectors.
Just think: Your son
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