News & Notes
AAP recommends lactose-intolerant children consume some dairy products
According to a new report from the
Lactose intolerance can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, bloating, flatulence, and other digestive discomfort; diminish quality of life; and decrease attendance in school, leisure and sports activities.
The AAP report, “Lactose Intolerance in Infants, Children and Adolescents,” also says pediatricians should consider age and ethnicity when diagnosing a child with this condition.
More than 70 percent of the world’s population has a lactase deficiency, although it is disproportionately found in populations with non-dairy diets, including Asian and Native American (nearly 100 percent), Hispanic (80 percent), black (60 to 80 percent) and Ashkenazi Jewish (60 to 80 percent). Only 2 percent of European populations are lactose intolerant.
Children in a high-risk ethnic group for lactose intolerance may develop symptoms as early as age 2 or 3; Caucasian children, no earlier than age 4 or 5. Lactose intolerance is rarely found in children younger than age 2 or 3, and such symptoms before age 2 may indicate another condition, such as an acute infection or bowel injury, requiring further testing.
As calcium is important for bone mineralization and essential for child growth, the report does not recommend eliminating dairy products to treat lactose intolerance. Children should continue to include calcium and/or non-dairy foods containing calcium and vitamin D in their diets to get their recommended daily levels. Yogurts and cheeses may be better tolerated than regular milk, and along with lactose-free milk, can provide alternative sources of calcium.
This report appeared in the September issue of Pediatrics, a scientific journal of the
Secret found to long-life yogurt
The worldwide yogurt market has grown over 8 percent annually for the past three decades, with 58 percent of the growth occurring in the past five years alone. The demand is being driven by the perceived nutritional and dietary benefits of yogurt.
However, processors must strike a balance between using the traditional heat treatment methods used in creating long-life yogurt and the resulting kill-off of the live and active culture that gives yogurt many of its potential health benefits.
The new process retains the fresh characteristics of the product with no compromise to flavor, color or nutritional characteristics, Fonterra stated. Manufacturers who currently make heat-treated long-life yogurt could instead use this process to retain live and active cultures.
The new process is natural, uses no additives or preservatives, and can be used on a variety of cultured foods and beverages. Further, the technology does not require significant disruption to existing manufacturing processes and existing formulation and packaging can be used in most cases.
Yogurt manufactured using the process meets the Codex international standard of identity regarding minimal levels of live and active cultures, allowing it to be labeled and sold as fresh yogurt.
This was excerpted from an article by Ahmed ElAmin that appeared in the September 28 issue of DairyReporter.com.
Study reveals cooling tunnels help hot cows to up milk yield
Cows cooled by an evaporative tunnel produced more milk and ate up to 12 percent more feed than those placed merely in shade or under sprinklers, says a U.S.-based study published in October’s Journal of Dairy Science. The findings could be important for dairy firms around the world as they look to increase profitability and efficiency.
“The advantage of evaporative tunnel ventilation became more dramatic as temperatures increased,” said the study’s co-author Terry Smith of
New, large-scale facilities incorporating a cooling tunnel system are around 20-25 percent more expensive than facilities using sprinklers or fans.
“But, as producers will tell you, the increased cost can be rapidly returned in regions with severe heat stress through sustained milk production and better reproductive efficiency during the period of heat stress and beyond,” said Smith. He added that a more limited cooling tunnel system could be added to existing facilities on farms “at a fraction of the cost of a new barn.”
Early results from additional studies on cooling tunnel technology show it may be beneficial for cow nutrition, fertility and air quality. The results are still being analyzed.
This was excerpted from an article by Chris Mercer that appeared in the September 19 issue of DairyReporter.com.
A little wedge’ll do ya
New information that has come to light about the benefits of eating dairy has helped improve cheese’s image, including the news that the calcium and other nutrients in it can help the body burn fat as well as reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
“Cheese is a great food choice,” said Dr. Michael Zemel, director of the
Zemel explained the dairy dieting connection: “When your body doesn’t have enough calcium, it mounts a hormonal response that tells the body ‘Let me hold onto whatever calcium I can.’ You release calcitriol, which turns on the molecular machinery for making fat from sugars, and inhibits the biochemical machinery involved in fat breakdown. It interferes with a process called programmed cell death, where we naturally get rid of the oldest most fat-filled cells. So, on a low-calcium diet, you make more fat, break down less fat, and have bigger, fatter fat cells.”
He said that when we consume plenty of calcium from dairy, calcitriol production is suppressed and weight loss is encouraged. “In clinical trials, we found that people who cut calories and were on a dairy-rich diet lost nearly twice as much weight as those who cut calories but were on a low-calcium diet,” Zemel said, adding that the best results occurred when the calcium came from servings of dairy, rather than calcium supplements.
“They lost twice as much fat, and most of that fat came from the midsections of their bodies,” said Zemel. “That’s great from both a cosmetic standpoint and a health standpoint, because that’s where the most dangerous fat is—the fat associated with diabetes and heart disease.”
If you’re on a weight-loss diet, you want the most calcium for the least calories. An eight-ounce yogurt will give you about 300 to 400 milligrams of calcium. To get that much from cheese, you would have to eat hunks of it, and that’s not going to help you lose weight.
However, NYU nutrition expert Lisa Young said, “If you crave cheese, do yourself a favor and eat a real piece of cheese. Cut yourself a sliver of Brie, or whatever kind you like, eat it and enjoy it. Otherwise, if you substitute with low-fat or no-fat cheese, you’re going to eat much more. And still crave the Brie.
This was excerpted from an article by Sari Botton that appeared in the May 10, 2006, issue of Newsday.com.
