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Nutrition and Health Disparities: The Role of Dairy in Improving Minority Health Outcomes

Consuming a balanced diet, such as the food groups represented on MyPlate, is key to improving health disparities. Despite the best of intentions, however, the dietary guidelines can be culturally challenging, particularly when it comes to dairy consumption. Many African and Hispanic Americans avoid...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Brown-Riggs, Constance
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4730419/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26703668
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13010028
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author Brown-Riggs, Constance
author_facet Brown-Riggs, Constance
author_sort Brown-Riggs, Constance
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description Consuming a balanced diet, such as the food groups represented on MyPlate, is key to improving health disparities. Despite the best of intentions, however, the dietary guidelines can be culturally challenging, particularly when it comes to dairy consumption. Many African and Hispanic Americans avoid milk and dairy products—key contributors of three shortfall nutrients (calcium, potassium and vitamin D)—because many people in these populations believe they are lactose intolerant. However, avoiding dairy can have significant health effects. An emerging body of evidence suggests that yogurt and other dairy products may help support reduced risk of heart disease, hypertension, obesity, and type 2 diabetes—conditions that disproportionately impact people of color. For this reason, the National Medical Association and the National Hispanic Medical Association issued a joint consensus statement recommending African Americans consume three to four servings of low-fat dairy every day. Cultured dairy products could play an important role in addressing these recommendations. Because of the presence of lactase-producing cultures, yogurt is often a more easily digestible alternative to milk, and thus more palatable to people who experience symptoms of lactose intolerance. This was a key factor cited in the final rule to include yogurt in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
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spelling pubmed-47304192016-02-11 Nutrition and Health Disparities: The Role of Dairy in Improving Minority Health Outcomes Brown-Riggs, Constance Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Consuming a balanced diet, such as the food groups represented on MyPlate, is key to improving health disparities. Despite the best of intentions, however, the dietary guidelines can be culturally challenging, particularly when it comes to dairy consumption. Many African and Hispanic Americans avoid milk and dairy products—key contributors of three shortfall nutrients (calcium, potassium and vitamin D)—because many people in these populations believe they are lactose intolerant. However, avoiding dairy can have significant health effects. An emerging body of evidence suggests that yogurt and other dairy products may help support reduced risk of heart disease, hypertension, obesity, and type 2 diabetes—conditions that disproportionately impact people of color. For this reason, the National Medical Association and the National Hispanic Medical Association issued a joint consensus statement recommending African Americans consume three to four servings of low-fat dairy every day. Cultured dairy products could play an important role in addressing these recommendations. Because of the presence of lactase-producing cultures, yogurt is often a more easily digestible alternative to milk, and thus more palatable to people who experience symptoms of lactose intolerance. This was a key factor cited in the final rule to include yogurt in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. MDPI 2015-12-22 2016-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4730419/ /pubmed/26703668 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13010028 Text en © 2015 by the author; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons by Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Brown-Riggs, Constance
Nutrition and Health Disparities: The Role of Dairy in Improving Minority Health Outcomes
title Nutrition and Health Disparities: The Role of Dairy in Improving Minority Health Outcomes
title_full Nutrition and Health Disparities: The Role of Dairy in Improving Minority Health Outcomes
title_fullStr Nutrition and Health Disparities: The Role of Dairy in Improving Minority Health Outcomes
title_full_unstemmed Nutrition and Health Disparities: The Role of Dairy in Improving Minority Health Outcomes
title_short Nutrition and Health Disparities: The Role of Dairy in Improving Minority Health Outcomes
title_sort nutrition and health disparities: the role of dairy in improving minority health outcomes
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4730419/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26703668
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13010028
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