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Lactose intolerance is actually the human norm – but racism, the US government and business interests have made it into a condition
Researchers and dairy producers helped frame lactose digestion as abnormal, even though nearly two-thirds of people worldwide are lactose intolerant, the article says.
- In the 1960s, American dairy producers and scientists framed lactose intolerance as an "inborn error of metabolism" to address postwar milk surpluses, though experts later recognized it as a normal physiological state.
- During the 20th century, nutritional imperialism promoted milk-rich, Western diets as superior; in 1959, Japan's nutrition bureau declared "rice-eating peoples" were "resigned and passive" and needed to switch to wheat.
- A 1966 study in Baltimore mislabeled digestive differences in Black prisoners as genetic mutations; by 1981, a National Institutes of Health official clarified that lactose intolerance is "a normal physiological condition, shared by every adult animal."
- White supremacists have embraced lactose tolerance as a "distinguishing debility" of nonwhite people, using maps from the journal Nature to reinforce racial hierarchies while trolls disrupted anti-racist events by downing milk in 2017.
- Today, The Chinese Nutrition Society featured milk in its 2022 Food Guide Plate, ignoring that the vast majority of Han Chinese are lactose intolerant and perpetuating the idea that Western diets are universal.
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14 Articles
14 Articles
Star Local+12 Reposted by 12 other sources
Lactose intolerance is actually the human norm – but racism, the US government and business interests have made it into a condition
The vast majority of people around the world are lactose intolerant. But American propaganda and scientific biases have made milk and dairy products a staple in global diets.
Coverage Details
Total News Sources14
Leaning Left3Leaning Right1Center8Last UpdatedBias Distribution67% Center
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources are Center
67% Center
L 25%
C 67%
Factuality
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