Lactase Deficiency

Abstract

Bolin and Davis¹ have reported a lactase deficiency in non-Caucasians. There is an increasing interest in lactase and it could be important to have our baselines correct. Western communities now live on comparatively high protein diets. We tend to think that we are meat eaters, but in fact the figures published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1966 illustrate that a large proportion of our animal protein comes from milk (Table 1). Although some African minority groups use milk as adults, most non-Caucasians use insignificant amounts, relying largely on cereals or fish. They will, however, drink their mothers' milk for perhaps the first 9–24 months of life and presumably have adequate lactase during this period.