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Educate your patients on the importance of 3-A-Day of Dairy: Here's
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tool (PDF: 618k) to show families how to get their 3-A-Day of Dairy
every day for stronger bones.
Developed in conjunction with The American Academy of Family
Physicians, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Dietetic
Association, and The National Medical Association.
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Dairy Council Digest Archives
Health Benefits of Dairy Foods for Minorities
Minorities' Consumption of Dairy Foods and Dairy Food Nutrients
Dairy food intake varies among and within racial and ethnic minority groups and is influenced by factors such as the degree of acculturation to dominant American cultural beliefs and values (13-16). When compared to USDA's Food Guide Pyramid (17), African Americans consume fewer servings of dairy foods/day than Whites, Mexican Americans, or other Hispanic groups (16, Figure 1). However, all groups fail to meet Pyramid recommendations of 2 to 3 servings of dairy foods/day (16). Ethnic and racial differences in dairy food intake are evident in childhood (18,19). A recent investigation found that African American children consumed 40% fewer servings of dairy foods/day than White children (18).
Figure 1 Mean Number of Servings of Dairy Products Consumed/Day (16)*
*USDA's Food Guide Pyramid recommends 2 to 3 servings of dairy products/day.
Relatively little information is available regarding the dairy food intake of other minority groups such as Asian/Pacific Islanders, American Indians, and Alaska Natives. Dairy products are not part of the traditional Korean or Chinese diets (14,15). However, dairy food intake of Korean and Chinese Americans increases with accultur-ation or length of stay in the U.S. (14,15). Alaska Natives are reported to consume milk infrequently, except in coffee or tea (20).
Milk and other dairy products are the major dietary source of calcium, providing 72% of the calcium available in the U.S. food supply (21). Few other foods provide calcium naturally in such concentrated amounts. In addition, milk and other dairy products provide substantial amounts of other essential nutrients including protein, vitamin D (if fortified), riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B12, vitamin A, phosphorus, and potassium (21). As such, intake of dairy foods improves the overall nutritional quality of the diet (22-24). This is especially important for some minority groups such as African Americans, a substantial proportion of whom have particularly poor diets (25,26).
Figure 2 Percentages of Individuals with Diets at or Above 100% of the 1989 Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for Calcium (16)
Although most minority groups consume less calcium than recommended, this is par-ticularly true for many African Americans (4,16,27-32, Figure 2). According to USDA data, African Americans consume 661mg calcium/day compared to 834 mg/day for Whites, 807 mg/day for Mexican Americans, and 767 mg/day for individuals of other Hispanic origin (16). Racial differences in calcium intake are evident as early as in the preschool years (28).
Although some minority groups may obtain most of their calcium from non-dairy foods such as green leafy vegetables and legumes, these foods generally provide lower amounts of calcium per serving than do most dairy foods (33). Also, some components such as phytates in cereals and oxalates in spinach reduce the bioavailability of calcium (33).
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