Planet Lactose

My Allergy Videos

2012-01-26T20:46:00.001-05:00

Kathy Martini joined the long list of mothers who started specialty companies because of their children's allergies. And, as always, "Not finding the teaching tools she needed, Martini decided to create them herself."

An article, Mom's Videos Teach Kids About Potentially Deadly Food Allergies by Vickie Jurkowski in the Orland [IL] Patch gave the details.

With Martini as president and [Beth] Kingsbury-Puscas as director, the KatieCare Productions team also includes Martini’s husband Rob as well as a Web designer, photographer, editor, graphic designer, music producer, videographer and children.

Through song and dance, the Safe Food Friends – Katelyn and other current students or graduates of St. Mary Immaculate Parish School – teach kids about allergic foods, safe and unsafe snacks and the importance of reading labels. Scenes were filmed in the Plainfield area.

The videos, My Peanut Allergy Video with My Safe Food Friends, My Milk Allergy Video with My Safe Food Friends and My Egg Allergy Video with My Safe Food Friends, are recommended for ages 2 to 7. Each DVD/CD combo sells for $19.99 at www.KatieCareProductions.com.

To kick off 2012, Martini partnered with momshelpingschools.com to market the videos. The site gives 40 percent of purchases to a school or education foundation.

The My Milk Allergy Video has this info on it:

* What milk looks like & where it comes from.
* How to recognize some of the foods that are NOT Safe Snacks™.

* Ask if this is a Safe Snack™?
* Can you please read the label for me?

The Allergy Menu.com

2012-01-22T20:25:00.003-05:00

Having trouble finding Healthy Recipes for your Multiple Food Intolerances?

Do you need 100 cookbooks because you can only find 3 appropriate recipes in each?

Stop wasting time with fruitless searching!

We’ve made it easy for you at The Allergy Menu.Com. A Global Online Community with access to:

‘The World’s First Customized Recipe Search Tool" for

‘Foodies with (Multiple) Allergies and Intolerances’.

Take a ‘Free Tour” or try it out for a week for just $5!

Let's start with the press release.

www.theallergymenu.com goes beyond the top 8 allergens (milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy & wheat), and allows users to customize their recipe search to eliminate over 20 different items, such as fructose, corn, amines, salicylates, oxalates, fructans, polyols & glutamates. The website also caters for specific diets such as the GAPS diet & the Gluten Free, Casein Free diet which are commonly recommended for children with Autism & ADHD.

"With our site you can focus again on what you would like to eat, rather than on what you can't eat", says Pauline. Everyone's dietary needs are different, so you will find a wide variety of foods on our site (including nuts for celiacs and eggs for vegetarians). If you can't tolerate these ingredients, the search function will eliminate them from your selection in one easy search.

"There are hundreds of beautiful recipes that we have carefully adapted to be safe and taste great too", says Michelle. "And we add new ones constantly. We are so proud of what we have achieved together. It has been a labour of love, and we are confident that it will help many people."

Visit The Allergy Menu at www.theallergymenu.com

The spelling should offer a clue: the site is actually based in Australia and I assume that the fees are in Australian dollars. They talk about a global community, though, and recipes are usually easily adaptable to local products. It may be worth a look.

Yoplait to Launch Lactose-Free Yogurt in Late January

2012-01-03T00:47:00.004-05:00

Hey, everybody. We've been noticed!

Kendall J. Powell - isn't that the perfect corporate executive name? - is the CEO of food product behemoth General Mills, the $15 billion giant that owns practically every other brand you see in a supermarket. One of their more than 100 brands is Yoplait, which General Mills bought out last May. And Ken - yes, he's called Ken, just like a normal person - has big plans for the yogurt. Plans that include us.

CEOs have to prime investors of their plans and expected earnings on a regular basis because this affects the predictions of their stock prices. So they do quarterly conferences in which they lure in the suckers with glittery promises of good times ahead. The investment site SeekingAlpha.com put up a transcript of their General Mills Second Quarter F '12 Earnings Results Conference Call.

And here's the part that concerns us:

We've got some good innovation coming on Yoplait in the second half. We'll introduce Greek yogurt and granola parfaits and new flavors of our Greek yogurt in multipack formats. We're also launching a new line of lactose-free Yoplait yogurt. Studies show that around 15% of U.S. consumers are lactose intolerant, and the percentage is higher among the growing multicultural populations. Dairy products that provide a lactose-free benefit are growing at a double-digit rate, so our retail customers recognize the increasing importance of this trend. We think this is a good innovation for the Yoplait brand, and we'll support this new line with couponing, digital advertising and in-store sampling.

More digging found out that the lactose-free yogurt will be in stores at the end of January. You should see four flavors. Cherry is obviously one of them, since that's the picture they sent out, but I haven't found the other three. This is so new that nothing about it is available at the Yoplait website yet. Keep checking there, though. You'll sure to find coupons for these new products as they get rolled out.

Other lactose-free real milk yogurts exist now, of course. Lactaid has a line of them in four flavors, strawberry, vanilla, peach, and blueberry. Green Valley Organics has even more flavors: peach, plain, honey, blueberry, vanilla, and strawberry.

Brands go out of the lactose-free business quickly, though. The Continental lactose-free yogurt I wrote about in 2007 is no longer available. Neither is the company. If you really want lactose-free yogurt, be sure to buy it and keep it in business.

Does Quitting Dairy Makes You More Intolerant?

2012-01-01T12:39:00.003-05:00

Kudos to The Toronto Globe and Mail for a solid answer to a question that I've gotten many times, If I quit dairy completely, will I become more intolerant?

Dr. Sheila Wijayasinghe breaks the bad news:

Given the large number of individuals who suffer from lactose intolerance, the possibility of developing a tolerance over time would be quite welcomed. Unfortunately, the body’s ability to produce lactase cannot be changed, so quitting dairy altogether does not increase intolerance as the amount of the enzyme remains the same.

The brainy doctor does understand the other side of the equation equally well and has some encouraging words:

Every individual is unique and has different amounts of the enzyme which is why certain people with lactose intolerance can take in larger amounts of dairy products than others. While you cannot build it up, you can test your tolerance level by gradually introducing small amounts of lactose containing products to see how much your body can handle.

Introducing small but constant amounts of lactase-producing probiotics, such as those in yogurt and other dairy products with live and active cultures or pills that contain the same, should increase tolerance as well.

A good answer, from one of the world's leading newspapers.

Happy Holidays

2011-12-23T23:26:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays. And I mean Happy Holidays. Accept no substitutes. This blog is for everyone. Bah and humbug to those who restrict.

30 Dairy-Free Recipe Substitutions

2011-12-18T12:19:00.004-05:00

Big thanks go to Kelli Kerkman of Greatist.com for sending me a link to a great page they ran.

Greatist is a health and nutrition site whose goals sound like something I would write, which is always the highest praise. They even have a manifesto:

I'm not a manifesto kind of guy. I'm an information kind of guy. So what I liked was the page that I'm passing on to you, 30 Dairy-Free Recipe Substitutions by Jordan Shakeshaft*.

The list is mostly the basic common-sense advice that I've given out before, but as Kelli said to me, it's always good to have it all in one place for easy reference and I agree. In addition, the page is studded with links to the foods and substitutes mentioned, which is great for you and makes my life much easier, a double win.

Here's a couple of unusual ideas, though, just to whet your appetite for the whole feast.

# Nutritional yeast for cheese

Instead of topping those nachos with cheddar, try a sprinkle of nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavoring with less fat. The taste and texture may be a little bit different, but the creamy texture is pretty comparable.

# Mashed bananas for butter

The creamy, thickening-power of mashed banana acts the same as avocado in terms of replacing fat in baked goods. The consistency is ideal, plus the bananas add a healthy dose of potassium and fiber.

* Although that's an obvious pseudonym for the Earl of Oxford. Obscure literary reference/pun just for me.

Jezebel Loves Daiya

2011-11-27T12:22:00.004-05:00

When I first learned I was lactose intolerant in 1978, me and a few Neanderthals, not only did nobody know nothing about LI but the number of dairy-free alternative products - all aimed at those with allergies - could be counted by a four-year-old. The ones that did exist, well, Coffee Rich was already around so they weren't all horribly bad, but you wanted to stay far, far away from the rest. Especially blocks of stinky white stuff that called itself non-dairy cheese.

A food industry that today gives you everything from hot dog and fries on a stick to egg foam with chive infusion can certainly get a mere substitute for cheese correct, can't it?

I've been listing non-dairy substitutes on my website for over 10 years. And I know that the look of the site hasn't been updated since then, and that some of the information there is obsolete, with new stuff missing. Sorry. That's a thousand hours I don't have. Much of the information is still good, though, and at least it gives you an idea of the range of items that are available, inside any one category and over all the various categories that non-dairy covers.

Two years ago, I let you know about the introduction of one particular non-dairy cheese that made a huge splash, Daiya Vegan "Cheese". Since then, Daiya has received much more praise around the web. Not only is it acclaimed as especially tasty, but it's not soy-based, often a problem for people with multiple allergies. Daiya uses tapioca and/or arrowroot flours, which they claim make it unusually allergen-free. (That's a change from earlier, when they used cassava rather than tapioca.)

Jezebel, a major women's blog, has a nice feature called Worth It:

Worth It, our daily recommendation of random things that we've actually spent our own money on. These are the things we buy regularly or really like, things we'd actually tell our friends about. And now we're telling you.

On November 25, 2011, the daily worth it was Daiya.

And the review is glowing.

Daiya cheese is the best substitute cheese of all the substitute cheeses!

I feel pretty qualified to say this — because I've tried so, so many kinds of fake cheese — the only cheese that melts enough to make a quesadillas, grilled cheese, and macaroni and cheese is Daiya. When I stopped eating dairy products, one of the biggest voids left in my eating habits was pizza. Every time I would make homemade pizza — I really, really missed pizza, you guys — it always failed my expectations. Until (surprise!) I tried making pizza with Daiya. It melts, and it melts unlike any other kind of fake cheese I've tried.

What that page doesn't say, and you should know, is that Daiya has a short shelf life once opened, no more than 10 days. You can freeze it, however, and only thaw as much as you'll need at one time.

Digestive Advantage Now Owned by Schiff

2011-11-13T12:47:00.005-05:00

I've written about Digestive Advantage many times in the past five years. It makes a brand of probiotic that is aimed specifically at those of use with lactose intolerance. No need to look for all the past links, but I did a long post filled with comments from you in Digestive Advantage Update in 2007. Most of what was said there should still hold today.

Here's a cold slap of reality to the face. I remember what I wrote about Digestive Advantage in 2007. And in 2006 and in 2009 and 2010. Not only that, I went over and over and over that material when I put together my collection of blog pieces, Planet Lactose: The Best of The Blog.

[Stop now. Put everything aside. Go and order the book, either in print form or an electronic version. Really. It'll put all this great information into one place for you. End of commercial.]

Back to reality. No matter how new and burned into my brain this info is: for most of you out there it's old and buried and never seen.

One of the big pieces of news that I discovered when I resumed the blog recently was that Lactagen has stopped being manufactured I automatically assumed that everybody would know about the possibility of switching to Digestive Advantage. Except, of course, you don't. You needed to write me to ask.

OK, time to correct that huge oversight.

Digestive Advantage.

Schiff® Digestive Advantage products contain BC30 probiotics, a hardy strain of Bacillus coagulans -- these "friendly" bacteria, or probiotics, help your body maintain a balance of bacteria -- supporting your digestive system. Unlike some other probiotics, BC30 survives passage through harsh stomach acids and doesn't need to be refrigerated, so there's no worrying about whether you're getting the live cells you need.

Schiff® Digestive Advantage comes in four different formulas: Intensive Bowel Support, Lactose Defense Formula, Gas Defense Formula and Daily Constipation Formula, so you can choose the Digestive Advantage product that's right for you. Click on any image below to learn more about that Digestive Advantage Formula.

And more promotional copy:

Digestive Advantage® Lactose Defense Formula
No Need to Take With Every Meal!

Digestive Advantage® Lactose Defense Formula does not have to be taken with every meal because it combines lactase enzyme with probiotics to help break down lactose hours after reaching the digestive tract.

Digestive Advantage® Lactose Defense Formula helps prevent the GAS, BLOATING and OCCASIONAL DIARRHEA that many people with lactose intolerance experience after eating foods containing dairy.

Available at over 40,000 retailers nationwide including Rite Aid, Walgreen's, WalMart, CVS/Pharmacies, Albertsons, K-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and online at Amazon.com, Drugstore.com.com and DoctorVicks.com.

Other Ingredients: Vegetarian capsule (hypromellose, water, chlorophylin, titanium dioxide), Microcrystalline cellulose, Di-calcium phosphate, Stearic acid, Silidon dioxide.

Contains milk and soy.

Let me repeat: Contains milk and soy. I don't understand that, and I don't see either in the list of ingredients, but I take warnings seriously. The flip side is that you have no reason to take Digestive Advantage unless you are planning to eat dairy products, which will contain a zillion times more milk in them. It's only the soy warning that a very small number of you have to worry about.

The other piece of news in that information is that the huge multinational powerhouse pharmaceutical company Schiff bought Gananden, the parent company of Digestive Advantage, back in June of 2011. You can read the press release for more info.

The purchase also gave Schiff rights to Sustenex, which uses the Gananden BC30 probiotics. I've written about Sustenex in the past as well.

Is the sale to Schiff good news for us? Probably. Digestive Advantage now has the muscle of Schiff's billions in marketing, distribution, and grabbing of shelf space in stores to make it more visible. There's always a flip side. As a very tiny and unimportant piece of an empire, good sales aren't enough. Big companies frequently buy out promising little companies and then eliminate them if they don't turn into huge profit centers. The good news prevails for now. Probiotics are hot. Drug Store News reported favorably on the sale, noting that "The probiotics category is presently growing at more than 20% on an annualized basis, according to Nutrition Business Journal." As long as that's true, expect to be able to easily find Digestive Advantage conveniently on local shelves.

And if and when Lactagen ever comes back onto the market, it will find deep pockets to compete against. That's also either good news or bad, depending on which since you sit on. My side is that the more choices and the more products consumers have, the bigger their advantage is.

ConsumerLab Accuses Lacteeze of Lacking Lactase

2011-11-05T19:52:00.003-04:00

ConsumerLab is a rival of the more famous Consumer Reports. It concentrates more on pills, powders, supplements, and remedies, though, a field that is rife with quacks and where even the legitimate products may not do what they claim.

Lactase is hardly in that class. It's easy to make, can be measured with proper federally-approved units, and does exactly what it's supposed to do. Like anything that is sold over-the-counter, though, some products have to be better than others. So when ConsumerLab did a report on lactase I didn't expect any surprises.

Wrong.

Can lactose-free foods -- like like lactose-free milk -- and lactase enzyme supplements really help people with lactose intolerance? They may -- but it depends on how much enzyme activity is in the supplement and how much lactose has been removed from the food.

ConsumerLab.com selected and tested ten different lactase supplements and three popular brands of lactose-free milk. The testing showed one lactase supplement to be ineffective and another with so little activity as to be of questionable value. But ConsumerLab.com also found many supplements that met their claims and may be helpful. The three lactose-free milks had no detectable lactose but only two provided a significant amount of vitamin D.

ConsumerLab.com found that an equal amount of lactase enzyme (enough to help with a high lactose meal) cost as little as 8 cents to as much as $6.79 depending on the brand of lactase supplement.

That's from the public page. You have to be a member to get the full report. Luckily, I am. Here's the full story.

The following lactase enzymes pills were tested (amount of lactase units):

CVS Pharmacy Dairy Relief Fast Acting (9,000 - 27,000)
Enzymedica Lacto (9,500)
Equate (Wal-Mart) Fast Acting Dairy Digestive Supplement (9,000 - 27,000)
Garden of Life Raw Enzymes (1,890 - 5,670)
KAL Lactase Enzyme (250)
Kirkland (Costco) Signature Fast Acting Lactase (9,000 - 27,000)
Lactaid Fast Act (9,000 - 27,000)
Natural Factors Lactase Enzyme 9,000
Nature’s Plus Say Yes to Dairy (3,000)
Puritan’s Pride Lactase Enzyme (1,750 - 5,250)
Solgar Lactase 3500 (3,500)
Source Naturals Lactase Digest (3,000 - 9,000)
Zygest Lactase Enzyme (1,750 - 5,250)

One liquid lactase:

Lacteeze

The three lactose-free milks:

Lactaid Fat-Free Milk,
Land O Lakes Dairy Ease
Organic Valley Lactose-Free Organic Fat Free Milk

All the lactase pills made their approved list, which as far as I can tell means only that they contain the amount of lactase that the manufacturers claimed.

There are other factors just as important. Tops on that list is whether the amount of lactase is sufficient for your needs. That's a touchy subject. Although the report cites a few studies, the truth is that nobody really knows what amount of lactase to recommend for the simple reason that each person is different. Some people seem to need only a basic minimum amount of lactase; others report requiring multiple pills. How your system reacts to the lactose in food varies with every mouthful. It's a frustratingly impossible subject to research. Over the years, however, the standard in the marketplace has been that a basic pill contains 3,000 units and an "extra-strength" pill contains 9,000. You might be able to get by with a smaller quantity, but I have always stated that anything below 1,000 units is a worthless waste of money. The KAL pill wouldn't make my approved list. In addition, the lactase in it is just one of a mixture of other digestive enzymes and I don't know if any of them are useful or in the right quantities. I never recommend any pills that contain such a mix. Garden of Life Raw Enzymes and Enzymedica Lacto also are mixes and not recommended by me. ConsumerLab noted that they are also the most expensive products per unit. As you would expect, the Costco and Walmart brand products were the cheapest at 8 and 12 cents per 9,000 units. Chewable tablets were slightly more expensive, Lactaid Fast Acting Vanilla Twist Flavor at 20 cents and CVS Pharmacy Dairy Relief Fast Acting Vanilla Twist Flavor at 21 cents, but some people - kids especially - may prefer them. The health food store brands were consistently more expensive.

So what about Lacteeze? Well, lactase pills are meant to be taken along with food to counteract the lactose in them. They work in your digestive tract. Lactase liquid, on the other hand, is a completely different type of lactase that is designed to be added to milk or other liquid dairy products and "digest" the lactase before it reaches your mouth. That's what Lacteeze liquid is. (Lacteeze, which is a Canadian product, also makes pills, which evidently were not tested.) I've recommended Lacteeze for years, because they came to our rescue when all the American brands of liquid lactase went off the market. I've never heard any complaints about them, although I always warn people that nothing works for everybody. I simply can't imagine why ConsumerLab couldn't find lactase in the Lacteeze bottle. Could their tests simply not be designed to find that variety of lactase? It's a mystery. I'm very hesitant to steer people away from a product that been a major company for decades on the basis of this odd finding.

Lactose-free milk, of course, is made by adding liquid lactase to regular milk. The process is similar to what you can do at home, although it is scaled up to industrial levels. All three milks in the test had lactose levels below what their test labs could detect. That doesn't necessarily mean absolutely zero, but so close that any difference is meaningless. All were about the same price, although the organic milk was a bit higher. The claim that one milk - Dairy Ease - didn't provide "a significant amount of vitamin D" is bizarre and possibly spurious. In reality, that meant that the carton didn't say how much much vitamin D was present and so they read that as zero even though Dairy Ease stated that vitamin D was added. That's shoddy work at best.

Overall, the report yields results pretty much exactly what I would expect. Store brands are cheaper than name brands, and mainstream brands more expensive than natural food items. Buy pills either as cheap as you can find, in whatever form you like, or pay a little more for the convenience of buying them where you usually shop. Lactase is lactase, as long as you buy sufficient quantities of it and that's all you're buying.

I'll try to investigate the strange finding about Lacteeze.

Lactaid Reintroduces Lactose-Free Yogurt

2011-10-19T20:18:00.003-04:00

Why aren't there more lactose-free dairy products available in stores? Because you don't buy them.

You can't imagine how much I hate having to write that. But I've been watching store shelves for over 30 years. I've seen dozens of products come into the market - some with huge marketing campaigns - and then quietly disappear. They go away because they don't live up to sales expectations.

Will that ever change? I'm doubtful. For most people taking lactase pills or eating small amounts of dairy is completely sufficient. Those people with real need are the ones with allergies who have to avoid all dairy. Lactose-free won't work for them. Same for vegans. And lactose-free products have another strike against them. Low-selling products are always going to be more expensive than their equivalents. Lactose-free milks are finally available pretty much everywhere but they are always much more expensive than regular milks.

Yet companies keep trying. Why? I honestly don't know. No matter. It's a great thing for those of us who are always looking for more variations.

The biggest name in lactose-free products is Lactaid. Lactaid makes a more complete line of lactose-free true dairy products than anyone else. There's the milk in whole, 2%, 1%, and fat-free varieties, calcium-enriched in all four varieties, Fit & Creamy in low fat and nonfat, and chocolate, not to mention Egg Nog and Half and Half. They also make cottage cheese and five flavors of ice cream.

And now yogurt. They've made it in the past and it went away. But here it is again. Four flavors: vanilla, blueberry, peach, and strawberry. They're marketed in the standard 6 fl. oz. cup and a multipack of four 4 fl. oz. minicups.

Lactaid has a Product Locator so you can search by your zip code to see if it's sold close to you.

Will it survive? That's up to you.

Frozen Yogurt - The More Bacteria the Better

2011-10-15T11:00:00.003-04:00

Are germs driving us crazy? Apparently, yes. I walked into a nice diner in Greenwich, CT yesterday and the first thing I saw was a hand sanitizer set up at the doorway. I care more about the staff having clean hands. There's a tirade waiting to happen about the omnipresence of anti-bacterials creating a races of super-resistant bugs, but having caught a bug myself I'm too tired to summon up the energy.

Being the perverse sort that I am, my mind latched on to the counterexample, the times when more bacteria are better for you, not worse. That's the world of probiotics. Yogurt is the most famous and most familiar example. The "good" bacteria in yogurt are helpful in many ways. For those of us with lactose intolerance, their best feature is that they literally manufacture the enzyme lactase, and lactase is what digests lactose. That makes yogurt "auto-digesting," which means that it is better tolerated than almost any other dairy product.

The catch is a small one. The bacteria has to be in "live and active" colonies. Dead bacteria don't manufacture lactase. They don't hurt you any either. The bacteria begin to die off as soon as conditions are no longer optimal for them. By the time you eat any yogurt, there will be fewer good bacteria than in the beginning. No big deal.

One thing that leads to sub-optimal conditions is cold. That leads to an immediate and obvious question: can frozen yogurt still have live and active cultures? This question is huger than ever since the craze for frozen yogurt has moved from the trendiest portions of the coasts (see Yogurt is Hot Hot Hot from back in 2008) to every mall in America.

The answer to the big question is a qualified yes. Some cultures can survive the production process. Probably as importat, the newer, tarter frozen yogurt recipes depend on more of the lactose being converted to lactic acid. It's likely that most of what you try will be well tolerated.

Just for fun, I'm passing along an interesting chart I found on the Yogen Früz blog. I'm not showing it to endorse Yogen Früz. I've had it, and it's fine, but I have no idea how well it compares to the rest of the frozen yogurts in the world. Moreover, any chart issued by one company to tout its superiority is suspect. It may be perfectly accurate, but you shouldn't expect it to tell a full and objective story. All I want it to accomplish is to show to you that an independent testing agency, in this case Brazilian Proteste Consumers Association, can find cultures in frozen yogurt.

More is better for cultures. If you have any concerns, ask at the shop if they have the equivalent numbers available there or on their website. I'm just happy that a hot trend turns out to be something that we in the lactose community can enjoy, for a change.

Allergy Free Cook Bakes Bread

2011-10-06T12:48:00.003-04:00

I found this tasty bit of promo from Laurie Sadowski sitting in my email, which means I have to share it with you.

THE ALLERGY-FREE COOK Bakes Bread

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free

Highlights include advice on how to:
* convert your kitchen into an allergy-free zone
* interpret ingredient labels to find hidden allergens
* adapt and customize your favorite recipes
* discover the nutritional qualities of over 20 gluten-free flours
* make rich, moist breads without eggs or dairy products

ISBN # 9781570672620 • $14.95 • by Laurie Sadowski

French Bread • Focaccia • Breadsticks • Scones • Gingerbread • Crackers • Multi-Grain Breads

Savor the irresistible aroma and tantalizing flavor of freshly baked bread, straight out of the oven—even if you have food sensitivities! The Allergy-Free Cook Bakes Bread proves that you don’t have to be a magician to work magic in the kitchen. Culinary wizard Laurie Sadowski has crafted an amazing collection of gluten-free bagels, biscuits, loaves, muffins, scones, and specialty breads that rival their traditional counterparts in every imaginable way.

These wholesome, delectable, gluten-free baked goods are completely vegan—free of eggs and dairy products—and many recipes are also free of other common allergens, such as legumes, nightshades, tree nuts, peanuts, seeds, and soy. Not only can you enjoy your favorite baked goods once again, but your friends and family will also dive in with gusto. The Allergy-Free Cook Bakes Bread transforms restrictions into possibilities and makes it easy for anyone challenged by food sensitivities to eat safely, compassionately, and nutritiously—right down to the very last scrumptious morsel.

You can get the book through the usual outlets, but the URL given in the email goes to Book Publishing Company, which bills itself as a publisher of vegan, vegetarian, raw, & natural health books.

Thanks, Laurie.

Lactagen No More

2011-10-02T00:02:00.003-04:00

I usually comment on comments inside that post, but this deserves a whole new post of its own. The news is that big.

That comment was in a post called Lactagen Response - It Worked for Her.

I took this stuff about four years ago now and still can drink milk now. It seems like it worked then and is still working fine. I do like my dairy very much. I do notice that if i over do it i still am fine. I was talking to a co-worker about this stuff and she wanted to get some but it is not for sale any more????? what happened??????

What's Lactagen? I've devoted huge blocks of text to it over the years. The first was one of the earliest posts I ever made in this blog, a full six years ago, Lactagen - Questions, No Answers. That started out with some eye-popping prose:

Lactagen claims to be a cure for lactose intolerance. That's right: a cure. Take the product for 38 days and you'll never be bothered by lactose again.

Except, oops.

UPDATE: Lactagen no longer uses the word “cure” in its marketing. Its website information has also changed since this was originally posted.

The quote from the Lactagen site also caught your attention:

Lactagen's™ one-time 38-day patent-pending formula allows the gradual and painless re-introduction of dairy into the digestive system. The program painlessly trains the body to be able to digest dairy products without the usual painful reactions. The combination of taking yogurt with live cultures, having meals with the formula, taking specific dosages and with the combination of Lactose, Tricalcium Phosphate, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, FOS and Cellulose Gum and Silica, the body learns how to digest dairy products.

So many more people wrote to me about Lactagen that I did a blockbuster post in 2007, Lactagen: The Big Update, compiling many of the testimonials to its effectiveness - or lack of.

And then in 2009 a quiet press release from Lactagen that I posted under the heading Lactagen Prepares to File For New Drug.

Ritter's first compound, RP-G28, has been developed for the treatment of lactose intolerance. RP-G28 will effectively stand out as the first FDA-approved drug for the treatment of lactose intolerance.

For me that was the biggest news, although I realize that few thought of it that way. I never understand how Lactagen worked. It's known that probiotics that contain certain forms of "good" bacteria have the ability to manufacture lactase in the colon. This lactase can digest the lactose that your body misses. So instead of fermenting and creating gas in the colon - the cause of most peoples' problem with lactose - the lactose is eliminated. This sounds great, except that establishing what's called a colony of those good bacteria in your colon is sometimes difficult and not always permanent. They can get pushed aside by other types of bacteria that ferment lactose. They also get killed off every time you take a dose of antibiotics. Several probiotic products are marketed to people with lactose intolerance, such as Digestive Advantage, that you are supposed to take daily because of this.

How did Lactagen achieve permanence? To this day I have no idea. That's why I've always been iffy about recommending it. I'm innately suspicious of anything I can't understand.

The folks at the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, know a thousand times more about the science than I do, though. If they gave approval to a treatment I would tell the world about it immediately.

Forward to 2011. And the comment that Lactagen can't be found anymore. So I hie over to the Lactagen site. And what I see there is very interesting.

Thank you for your interest in Lactagen® and Better Digestion™. Ritter Pharmaceuticals is no longer offering Lactagen® and its other dietary supplement products in order to focus on new products in the development pipeline. It is important to note that these products were not taken off the market due to health or efficacy concerns. We have enjoyed this opportunity to help thousands of individuals around the world find relief for their lactose intolerance symptoms.

One of these new exciting products in our pipeline is called RP-G28. RP-G28 is a second generation product geared towards treating the symptoms of lactose intolerance long-term. The product is currently being considered for FDA approval and is entering Phase 2 clinical trials. It stands to become the first prescription drug for the treatment of lactose intolerance. Ritter hopes to offer the first FDA approved treatment for the symptoms of lactose intolerance by 2014.

So Lactagen is gone - has been since January 2011, from what I gather - and Andrew Ritter is betting the whole company on that second-generation version he announced in 2009. Five years is hardly an unusual length of time to get FDA approval for a drug. (I dislike the term drug in this context, although I understand its use as shorthand. Probiotics are not drugs in the usual sense.)

Press releases on the site indicate that the treatment is getting favorable attention.

November 2, 2010

Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biological therapeutics company with a focus on digestive diseases, announced today that it has been awarded a grant by the United States government program, the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP).The QTDP grant supports the development of Ritter Pharmaceuticals' flagship product, RP-G28, as a treatment for the symptoms of lactose intolerance.

There were over 6,500 applicants seeking $1 Billion in grant funding. Ritter Pharmaceuticals received the maximum awarded amount per project. ...

A unique mechanism of action gives RP-G28 the potential to be the only therapeutic regimen designed to impact the natural factors of the disease and alleviate the symptoms of lactose intolerance on a long-term basis. Phase 2 clinical development is underway.

CenterWatch.com reports that volunteers for clinical trials are being sought. Those announcements were made on June 1, 2011 so I assume that the trials are already under way. I found a page with complete information about the trials on ClinicalTrialFeeds.org.

But the mills of the FDA grind slowly. Even under the best of circumstances you'll have to wait three more years. And that's assuming FDA approval. What if they don't approve? That happens with fair frequency. That's also why drugs are so expensive. The approval process takes money and time, which is also money. And the product has to live up to its claims.

Anything can happen in three years. I make no predictions. Not even as whether I'll be blogging to report on it.

I'm At the Small Press Author Showcase Friday

2011-09-26T13:26:00.000-04:00

The Barnes & Noble superstore at The Mall at Greece Ridge coordinates what it calls a Small Press Author Showcase each year. They invite local authors who have books they self-published and arrange a big meet & greet with a couple dozen or more authors and lots of readers.

This year's gathering is

Friday September 30, 2011 7:00 PM

The Mall at Greece Ridge Center
330 Greece Ridge Center Drive
Rochester, NY 14626

You can go to the B&N site and get a map and driving directions to the store.

To be honest, that tiny map isn't very good. The mall only goes up to Long Pond Rd, not Mitchell. The store is on the Long Pond Rd. side. Try this Google map instead. There's easy access from I390.

View Larger Map

The actual event will be in the mall corridor outside the store, not in the store itself. It should run two hours, from 7 to 9. I'll be there with copies of Planet Lactose: The Best of the Blog and my collection of science fiction short stories, Tyrannosaur Faire. Something for everybody.

Here's something else you ought to know. While I'm certainly pleased that B&N holds this event and it's a great experience for all the authors involved, this will be the only time you'll be able to buy my books at B&N. The corporate policy at B&N - and at Borders before it went out of business - is that they don't carry self-published books. Period. Not even from local authors. If you aren't a big enough publisher to have an account at one of the major book distributors, the big chains won't deal with you. This is a Community Relations event, something that the individual store community relations manager decides to do. It's the only one I know of in the country by that name at B&N.

If you're anywhere in the region and free on Friday, stop down at The Mall at Greece Ridge. Remember, dozens of other worthy authors will be getting their one day of public acclaim. Support us and support small presses. Plus there's a million square feet of mall around the corner. Gotta love it.

Valio Terminates Real Goodness Lactose Free Milk in U.SL

2011-09-24T00:02:00.001-04:00

Back in 2009 I had a very exciting announcement to make. Valio, the huge Finnish manufacturer of lactose-free milk products, was entering the American market at last. They contacted me about getting the word out and I was happy to do so, in Valio's Lactose-Free Milk Is a Hit!

I just got a comment on that page complaining that the milk could no longer be found. So I did a search and came up with this undated message that is all that's left on the realgoodness.com website.

Dear Friends of Real Goodness:

Thank you for your loyalty to our brand over the past two years. In the limited time we have been in market in the United States, Real Goodness has helped thousands of people overcome the symptoms of lactose intolerance and enjoy a healthier and tastier lactose-free milk.

We regretfully announce that our company has made the decision to terminate production at this time. Our final shipment to retailers occurred last week. This product has enjoyed widespread success in Europe. However, the product did not achieve its sales targets set out in our strategy despite the fact that the product was unparalleled in its ability to deliver great taste and superior nutrition.

On behalf of Valio USA, I want to thank each of you for supporting Real Goodness.

What can I say? While a small percentage of people with lactose intolerance cherish each and every lactose free product on the market, the greater number ignore them. They either avoid real milk products, opting for artificial substitutes or no milk-like substances at all, or just have real milk in smaller quantities. The lactose free market has always been small and chancy. I've watched dozens of products come into the market and suddenly disappear over the years.

I'm very sorry about this one, because I thought Valio had the money and marketing clout and savvy to pull it off whereas small companies can't compete nationally. It's a shame.

Where Is the Whey? Everywhere.

2011-09-22T00:16:00.004-04:00

Holly asked me a question that is much deeper and puzzling than it looks at first. I'll try to cut through some of the confusion.

I recently had the ALCAT test done and it shows I have no reaction to casein and a severe reaction to whey. This surprized me because I have never had a noticeable reaction to dairy. I was told that it doesn't mean that I'm lactose intolerant - just whey intolerant. My question is: hasn't the whey been cooked out of evaporated milk, condensed milk, caramel, cream cheese, and most cheeses? I would think so but I can't find an answer anywhere.

Milk is like every other food we eat, a mixture of chemicals that we group into three basic families: the fats, the carbohydrates, and the proteins. That's not even including the pure minerals, notably calcium, potassium, and phosphorus, that make milk so healthy. Or the micronutrients like vitamins. All of these float in a vast sea of water. A full 88% of a glass of whole cow's milk is water. Carbohydrates - our old friend lactose - make up 4.66%, fats, 3.34%, and proteins 3.29% That tiny fraction of a percent of discrepancy is referred to as ash, and contains all the minerals and anything else that doesn't fall neatly into one of the big three categories.

The proteins, though comprising the smallest bulk of the three majors, has the most complex set of subfractions. For our purposes, all we need to concentrate on are the two main families of proteins, the caseins and the wheys. A table at an Ohio State website breaks down the families into five types each.

Having five types of casein is confusing enough. The wheys are worse. There are at least two immunoglobulins and several minor proteins.

And I'm not even going to talk about the Proteose-Peptone Fraction, which is defined as whatever is "not precipitated at pH 4.6 from skim milk previously heated to 95-100° C for 30 minutes." (I quoted that from the National Dairy Council. That Ohio State site gives slightly different numbers. Don't you love it when experts disagree on basics?) Those are at least four proteins that have some relationship to both the caseins and the wheys and I don't understand them at all. Everybody else ignores them, however, and so shall I.

In liquid milk, all the proteins, like the fats and the carbohydrates, are in a colloidal suspension. "A colloid is a substance microscopically dispersed evenly throughout another substance." You can't, therefore, go through milk and pick out the proteins very easily. It takes high-technology techniques like the membrane process of ultrafiltration, some called "very specific enzyme precipitation," or the ion-exchange processes.

Or cheesemaking. Rennet, produced in the stomachs of most mammals, is an enzyme that coagulates casein, clumping the individual molecules into larger lumps that can be much more easily separated from the rest of the liquid.

Why then do food processors and scientists need such high-tech procedures to do what villagers and nomads have done for thousands of years? Purity. Those curds of soft cheese that are formed are mostly casein protein. But they also contain some lactose and some fat and some water. And some whey. As long as there is water present, some whey will be there as well. The aging process also hardens the cheese, which is done by almost literally squeezing out the remaining water. Additional heating of cheese can harden it even further. Most of the lactose is removed with the water, which is why true milk cheeses can be sold as lactose-free. Most of the whey goes with the water as well. I can't guarantee that all of the whey goes, though. A few micrograms of remaining lactose is meaningless for anyone who is lactose intolerant. A few micrograms of remaining whey protein could trigger a reaction.

And that's where we come back to Holly's question. Processed dairy products may be low in whey, even negligible in whey for practical purposes. Allergies are impractical. They can affect people in doses too tiny to be otherwise noticed. That's exactly why those with severe dairy protein allergies are advised never to eat any dairy product. Removing every last molecule of protein is a task for a scientific lab, not a food processor. This difference is the main reason for the vast gulf between lactose intolerance and a milk allergy. You can take chances with lactose. Allergies require extreme caution and care. Some people, like Holly apparently, have mild symptoms to no symptoms at all. For others, the symptoms are frequent and severe. For those people allergies are serious and must be treated that way. And the more you know about food, its composition, and its processing, the better off you are.

A Quick History of Lactose Intolerance

2011-09-20T12:10:00.005-04:00

Winnie wrote me to ask "if you can give me an idea of what are the best places to talk to a lactose intolerant community online. In addition, what are the typical questions you get on lactose intolerant."

Here's what I wrote back to her.

LI is a strange problem. It's not medically serious so it doesn't attract communities in the way that life-threatening or -altering problems do. People have tried but they never grow or last. Probably the closest approximation today is Alisa Fleming's GoDairyFree.org. She's focused on sharing recipes and foods that don't contain milk rather than specifically lactose, although in many cases that's the same thing.

I gave the history of LI in my book Milk Is Not for Every Body. Nobody realized that such a condition existed until about the 1960s. That's when doctors and anthropologists went around the world testing native groups. They kept finding LI everywhere. But most of them didn't really notice because dairying was not part of their heritage so they didn't have large amounts of lactose in their cultures. Only northern Europeans and their descendants and colonies did.

There's a long history of not wanting to talk about intestinal problems in those societies. Since large amounts of lactose produce both diarrhea and particularly smelly flatulence, it was socially embarrassing to talk about. And doctors knew practically nothing about it, so all they did was recommend removing all milk from the diet. Full labeling regulations by the FDA were still in the future so it was often hard to tell whether a processed or baked food contained any milk in the first place. Lists of foods to avoid included such things as french fries and peas. (Presumably because sometime somewhere lactose was involved in the processing, though I've never tracked down exactly where.)

The food labeling requirements helped a lot. But the breakthrough was when a Dutch pharmaceutical company, Gist-Brocades, invented a method for producing commercial lactase, first a powder to add to liquid milk and remove the lactose and then a pill that could be taken with food. The American company Lactaid bought the rights to make it here. Their first pills were marketed in 1984. It was in the early 1990s, though, that they entered into a product war with a competitor, Dairy-Ease. Spending tens of millions on television commercials, they made the American public aware of LI. It became a regular joke for late-night comics and the regular ailment for the comic sidekick in movies and television. Making a joke of an ailment was oddly helpful. It's hard to be afraid of something that's a mere joke.

Since then all the attention has turned to food allergies (and celiac disease, which used to be called gluten intolerance). These are much more serious. Allergies primarily appear in babies unlike LI, which primarily appears in adults (except as a temporary condition after an intestinal ailment in babies), and is both much more difficult to deal with and, in a very few cases, life-threatening. There are hundreds of communities for these problems. The milk allergy community will provide some info about milk products that is useful for LI. But all the great majority of people with LI really need to know is to limit the quantity of lactose taken in at any one time and use lactase. Avoiding milk products really isn't necessary. There isn't much need for a community under these circumstances.

Many people still insist that isn't sufficient. It's difficult to know what to say to them. You can look at the results I posted in my blog about a year ago about the NIH State of the Science Conference on LI. Paper after paper was presented that said essentially that it was next to impossible to induce any symptoms at all in a laboratory setting, no matter how much lactose is given, making it impossible to study. If people insist than any trace of lactose triggers symptoms I'm sympathetic, but I have no medical information to present. Is it possible that much of the reaction for many people is psychological rather than physiological? Apparently. But LI is not life-threatening, so there is zero money for research. The medical studies are on tiny and often unrepresentative groups. We still don't know the answers to many basic questions.

If and when some of these answers emerge, you can be sure that I'll post them here.

Planet Lactose: THe Best of the Blog Now on Amazon

2011-09-16T00:02:00.000-04:00

My enormous 86,000 word compilation of posts, Planet Lactose: The Best of the Blog, is available everywhere in every kind of format, as I announced with great relief a few days ago. On Amazon? Yes, even on Amazon. It took me those few extra days and most of the waking hours in them to reformat the book so that it looked exactly right on a Kindle and get the book properly uploaded to Amazon. Proof: there it is in all its glory. It's exactly the same edition as the one published electronically everywhere else. Remember, you can get a .mobi edition that is readable on the Kindle through Smashwords. However, you can also download directly from Amazon if you have a standard Amazon account.If there is any format you'd like to see it in that's not already covered, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I started with 5 1/4" flopy disks, proceded through 3 1/2" "floppies" (which were hard), true hard drives, and now solid-state drives so I think I can cope.

Food Intolerance vs. Food Allergy

2011-09-15T22:53:00.004-04:00

One link in particular from the Great Page of Food Allergy Informational Links that I posted yesterday stood out for me. Of all the thousands of questions I've received over a quarter century of talking about lactose intolerance, probably the most frequent and most confusing is the difference between a food intolerance and a food allergy.Let's start with this short article on the Palo Alto Medical Foundation site, Food Allergy vs. Food Intolerance.

A food allergy is actually an immune-system response. When someone eats certain foods (such as those listed above), the body mistakenly treats an ingredient in the food (usually a protein) as if it were a harmful pathogen. The body responds by creating a defense system (antibodies) to fight it. The allergic symptoms occur as a byproduct of the action of the antibodies that battle the invading food.Food intolerance is a broad term that describes any adverse reaction to food. ...Non-allergic food intolerance is often limited to an uncomfortable digestive-system response. The most common example of food intolerance is lactose intolerance, in which one's body is unable to break down the sugar (lactose) in dairy products. Other food intolerances can be caused by irritation to the digestive system by an ingredient in the food consumed.

That's the basics. Allergies and intolerances are different conditions, produced by the body reacting in different ways, often to a different set of triggers, with different symptoms and different severity. You wouldn't think that anybody would mix them up. And yet, life is never that simple and clearcut.The big issue for most of you reading this is dairy. Dairy is the trigger - the sole trigger - for lactose intolerance. Only the milk of mammals contains lactose: it's not found anywhere else in nature. Digestion breaks down milk into its smallest and simplest components and one of these is the compound sugar known as lactose. No digestive system of any mammal can digest lactose. It must be broken down into its own components, the simple sugars glucose and galactose, before it can be absorbed by the intestines. That's pretty weird if you think about. Why would a nursing mother go through the long series of extremely complex chemical reactions necessary to produce a unique compound sugar that can't be used in that form by the offspring? Nobody really knows. It's a scientific mystery. And a useful argument against the notion that humans or mammals or any living thing was "designed." Who would design a boondoggle like this?To break down, digest, a compound chemical the body manufactures enzymes, proteins that act as catalysts to speed up the process. The enzyme that digests lactose is called lactase. (Sugars end in "ose"; enzymes end in "ase". Remember that for your next crossword puzzle.) If the small intestine doesn't manufacture lactase, or creates too little of it, then some lactose will continue through the gut and wind up in the colon. Two things can happen during that journey, both bad. One is that lactose reverses what is called the molality of the system. Normally water enters the body from the intestines, nourishing you and leaving the end product, the stool, moist but intact. Lactose creates an environment in which water is pulled from the body into the intestines, setting up conditions that usually manifest as diarrhea. In addition, many of the dozens or hundreds of species of bacteria that live in your colon will jump on the lactose as a source of food, ferment it, and produce gas as part of the fermenting process. Heavy, smelly, long-lasting, awful gas - by itself or in addition to the diarrhea - is the consequence. Put together, those are the symptoms of lactose intolerance. Any other symptoms in an adult are extremely rare.Allergic reactions make more basic, underlying sense than lactose intolerance. You obviously want your body to fight off foreign invaders in your environment or in your food. But - here's where we question the whole "designer" thing again - the body often gets it totally wrong. Sometimes perfectly good, even healthy and helpful chemicals trigger reactions. In food, these reactions are always triggered by proteins, and never by sugar of any sort. You cannot be allergic to lactose. Only the proteins in milk, which are mostly in two families, the caseins and the wheys, can set off an allergic reaction.In theory that sounds like a great dividing point. In the laboratory it is. In life, there are few times when you have a dairy product that contains only proteins or only lactose. They almost always come mixed. How do you tell which is causing the problem?The best way is by the symptoms. Lactose intolerance always and only causes intestinal distress. A dairy allergy seldom does. Another link on that great links page lead to an informational page from the Journal of the American Medical Association.

SYMPTOMSAllergic reactions to food can be mild to severe. They usually occur within a few minutes of eating a food, though they rarely appear a few hours after ingestion. Symptoms can include runny nose, itchy skin, rash or hives, tingling in tongue or lips, tightness in throat, hoarse voice, wheezing, cough, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, or diarrhea.

Those symptoms are in rough order of how common they are. Notice that stomach pain or diarrhea are last on the list. They do occur in certain people. Even so, the fact that the symptoms overlap coming from food in which the triggers overlap is a recipe for confusion.Doctors can usually sort this out just from listening to you describe your symptoms. And there are tests both for lactose intolerance and for food allergies that will definitely separate them. If you don't want to wait, the easiest first step is try lactase pills, available in any supermarket or pharmacy. Those work well on most people with lactose intolerance. If they don't, then the next step really is to see a doctor. A great many gastrointestinal illnesses produce the same symptoms and some, notably irritable bowel syndrome, can also be triggered by dairy. The cures for those are seldom as easy a box of inexpensive pills. Make sure you get the treatment you need.

Great Page of Food Allergy Informational Links

2011-09-10T09:52:00.001-04:00

Food allergies have exploded over the last two decades and nobody is quite sure why. Until scientists can tease out the true explanation from the hundreds of suggestions made, sufferers and parents of children with allergies need to learn all about them. What to avoid, what to do if symptoms arise, how to substitute for trigger foods. In that way allergies are much like lactose intolerance: the same behaviors need to become automatic.Kristen sent me a great page of useful links that appeared, of all places, on the website of LionsDeal Restaurant and Office Wholesale. Restaurants are taking allergies and intolerances with far greater seriousness and understanding than they did before the incessant publicity on them started. The people at Lion's Deal did a good amount of research and put it together on a page called Kitchen Guide: Food Allergy Information. The links all head to major academic and governmental bodies or allergy organizations, so the information is sure to be authentic.Thanks to LionsDeal.com for gathering this information for their restaurant clients and to Kristen for making me aware of it in a place I'd never think to look

Chocolates Truffles. Have One. Just One. Ok, Two.

2011-09-07T00:02:00.003-04:00

Email from Jennifer, about a problem almost too good to be true.

My question concerns gourmet chocolates, like truffles and other filled chocolates. I have always loved those, and do try to steer clear of cream-filled chocolates, but sometimes I'm too tempted, and have one or two. I don't seem to have a problem digesting them, even though just about everything else with dairy (muffins, ice cream, milk, etc.) causes problems. I've joked that I've somehow been lucky to get a chocolate exception to LI. Is there something to that (more than a joke)? Is there something about cream-filled chocolates that would cause less of a reaction than other dairy items?

What a wonderful question to get to answer the very same week that the headline "Chocoholics may have an edge in heart health" appeared in the Washington Post.

I normally have the dismal job of reminding people that most headlines they see in newspapers about the latest miraculous report about foods or medicines are literally not worth the paper they're printed on. The studies are too small, or too short, or too conflicted to rely on. This study rises to a much higher standard. It's what's known as a meta-study, one that analyzes the medical literature and tries to form a conclusion based on all the best and largest studies. This one looked at 114,009 adults from seven studies, with different methodologies. Here come the science.

Chocolate consumption and cardiometabolic disorders: systematic review and meta-analysis. Adriana Buitrago-Lopez et al. BMJ 2011; 343:d4488 doi: 10.1136/bmj.d4488 (Published 29 August 2011)

Abstract

Objective
To evaluate the association of chocolate consumption with the risk of developing cardiometabolic disorders.

Design
Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational studies.

Data sources
Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, PubMed, CINAHL, IPA, Web of Science, Scopus, Pascal, reference lists of relevant studies to October 2010, and email contact with authors.

Study selection
Randomised trials and cohort, case-control, and cross sectional studies carried out in human adults, in which the association between chocolate consumption and the risk of outcomes related to cardiometabolic disorders were reported.

Data extraction
Data were extracted by two independent investigators, and a consensus was reached with the involvement of a third. The primary outcome was cardiometabolic disorders, including cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease and stroke), diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. A meta-analysis assessed the risk of developing cardiometabolic disorders by comparing the highest and lowest level of chocolate consumption.

Results
From 4576 references seven studies met the inclusion criteria (including 114 009 participants). None of the studies was a randomised trial, six were cohort studies, and one a cross sectional study. Large variation was observed between these seven studies for measurement of chocolate consumption, methods, and outcomes evaluated. Five of the seven studies reported a beneficial association between higher levels of chocolate consumption and the risk of cardiometabolic disorders. The highest levels of chocolate consumption were associated with a 37% reduction in cardiovascular disease (relative risk 0.63 (95% confidence interval 0.44 to 0.90)) and a 29% reduction in stroke compared with the lowest levels.

Conclusions
Based on observational evidence, levels of chocolate consumption seem to be associated with a substantial reduction in the risk of cardiometabolic disorders. Further experimental studies are required to confirm a potentially beneficial effect of chocolate consumption.

Or as the Washington Post boiled it down:

People who ate the most chocolate — dark or light and in such forms as bars, drinks, desserts, snacks and nutritional supplements — were 37 percent less likely to have developed cardiovascular disease and 29 percent less likely to have had a stroke than were those who ate the least amount of chocolate.

More chocolate for everyone!

Yes, that includes you, readers who are lactose intolerant. There are two parts to this answer, and both of them are good news.

Personally, I'm a dark chocolate fanatic. That doesn't mean that the higher the cocoa content the better. Truthfully, those 85% cocoa super-intense bars go over the edge into bitterness. I'll stick with 70-72% cocoa for the best experience. Adding fruit doesn't hurt, either for flavor or health. I found a supplier of dark chocolate-coated black currents, an intense rush that satisfies even when I have just one or two raisin-sized pieces. I substitute that for dessert, part of an overall purge of excess sugar from my diet. I've gone down a pants size in the past few months, losing about one pound a week, a good recommended amount.

And all that dark chocolate? It's milk free. So the lactose content is zero.

That's not what Jennifer asked about, though. Chocolate truffles may be dark chocolate or milk chocolate. Either way, they're likely to have some sort of cream-filled interiors that kiss each taste bud and send them flying. And cream means milk. Which means lactose.

The secret? A truffle is tiny. All that intense flavor is packed into a tiny volume, a neutron star for calories. I checked a number of brands and found that truffles seem to run from 10 to 20 grams, much less than an ounce, which is 28.375 grams. An ounce of pure milk contains less than a gram and a half of lactose. Truffles are half that size and are mostly not milk. Therefore the fraction of a gram of lactose in any given truffle is probably too small to matter.

As long as you don't gobble down (or it is gobble up) the whole carton of truffles at a sitting, the vast majority of us with lactose intolerance don't have to worry about symptoms. Think of it as the indulgence it's supposed to be, and have one, just as some better restaurants offer at the end of a meal. Just remember that a truffle is an indulgence and stop at one. I'll allow two. I mean, we're talking truffles here.

If you want to up your chocolate content to get some of that heart-healthy goodness, though, I'd recommend sticking to a good dark chocolate with less fat and fewer calories. In place of dessert, not in addition to it. Then you can go shopping for new jeans. Three pair, including tax, $36 at the VF outlet store. Talk about indulgence.

Lactose in Goat Cheese and Yogurt

2011-09-05T00:02:00.002-04:00

I received an email from Jo-Ann asking me about the percentage of lactose in goat cheese and yogurt.

That's a question that looks very straightforward, but it contains traps and pitfalls.

Goat cheese is a fad food today. A few years ago you might never have seen goat cheese outside of a few specialized cheese shops or fancy restaurants. Today I went to a chain restaurant that served salads and sandwiches and paninis featuring goat cheese. They might have had goat cheese is their oatmeal, too. They called it Swiss oatmeal but it came with banana slices and goats are far more Swiss than bananas are. The irony is that practically every farm across the world makes its own specialty cheese and thousands of those cheeses with thousands of tiny distinct variations can be purchased even in ordinary supermarkets, but somehow "goat cheese" has entered the vocabulary of fast food as a single thing.

So what is goat cheese? There are two main varieties, the Mediterranean style of brined curd known as feta and the French style known as chevre. Feta is crumblier and chevre is creamier. As Wikipedia handily points out, though, goat cheeses come in many varieties from many nations under many forms. The cheese used in salads is probably feta, because the crumbles are visually attractive and give good mouthfeel.

Cheese is the slipperiest dairy product. Pinning an exact number on a product you can't even identify by name is an exercise in futility. Those thousands of variations mean thousands of variations in the percentage of lactose they contain. I doubt if anybody's ever bothered to do a lactose comparison between Mató and Pantysgawn and Kunik and Rubing, just to pull a few fun-sounding names out of that Wikipedia article. It gets worse when big corporations buy from many sources that produce an individualistic product that varies season to season and probably cow to cow.

Don't give up just yet, because it turns out there are a few things that I can say. Your intestines aren't research scientists and they aren't grading you to three significant figures. Approximations and generalities will do.

We know one big fact about cheese. The more aging that goes into cheese, the lower the lactose percentage. The aging process literally squeezes the liquid out of the cheese and the liquid takes the lactose with it. Broadly speaking, therefore, the harder a cheese is, the lower the lactose percentage. And that also implies that the softer a cheese, the higher the lactose percentage. And feta and chevre both are soft cheeses.

I put together collections of lactose percentages from several sources into a table on my website called The Really BIG List of Lactose Percentages. Yep, feta is there. At 4.1% lactose it's definitely at the high end of lactose in cheese.

Still, it's part of a continuum of percentages, not an outlier. And that brings up an important point that I try to hammer home whenever I can because so many other people avoid saying it. Goat cheese, like goat milk, like every other goat dairy product, has essentially the identical lactose content to the similar product made from cow's milk. I've ranted about this before so I won't go down that road today. When it comes to lactose all the milks that people use to make dairy products from are essentially interchangeable.

Which takes care of the answer to the question about goat yogurt. If it is made in traditional tart style, it's probably low in lactose, just as cow's milk yogurt is. But manufacturers often make yogurt sweeter for the North American market, and that usually means adding in no merely sugar and fruit but also additional dairy products than can drive up the lactose percentage. All I can tell you, as good consumers, is to check the ingredients lists and see if they contain milk products other than the milk at the top of the list. If you see them, assume that lactose will follow.

Planet Lactose: The Best of the Blog! Now on Smashwords!

2011-09-03T16:38:00.005-04:00

86,000 words. Hundreds of articles. The cream of the crop. The most informative, penetrating, useful, controversial, opinionated, wild, and absurd posts I've done over the first several years of this blog. That was Planet Lactose: The Best of the Blog. The book is still available. From me, in fact. Just go over to Planet Lactose Publishing to order it.

Paper is out, I know. Electrons are in. But the formatting of the book, with many quotes, large numbers of pictures, and lots of sections, meant that it was a nightmare to convert into digital form and not make it an unholy mess that would offend the eyeballs.

Finally, though, after many, many hours of reformatting, the digital edition is ready to go.

I've posted it on Smashwords.com, a writer-friendly multi-platform site that converts your manuscript in almost every major format that anyone could want to download.

eBook Formats

epub
This is the format Smashwords distributes to the Apple iBookstore, Sony, Kobo, B&N, Stanza, Aldiko and others. Also very popular with Smashwords.com customers. EPUB is an open industry format.

Sony Reader (LRF)
LRF is the format used on older Sony Reader ebook devices. The newer Sony Readers use EPUB.

Kindle (.mobi)
This is one of the most popular formats for Smashwords.com customers. Mobipocket is an eBook format supported on the Kindle, as well as Windows PCs and many handheld devices.

Palm Doc (PDB)
PalmDoc is a format primarily used on Palm Pilot devices, but readers are available for PalmOS, Symbian OS, Windows Mobile Pocket PC/Smartphone, desktop Windows, and Macintosh.

PDF
Portable Document Format, or PDF, is a file format readable by most devices, including handheld e-readers, PDAs, and computers.

RTF
Rich Text Format, or RTF, is a cross-platform document format supported by many word processors and devices. Usually pretty good at preserving original formatting from Word documents.

Plain Text
Plain text is the most widely supported file format, working on nearly all readers and devices. It lacks formatting, but will work anywhere.

That's great. Here's something even better. Smashwords sells the book to you directly. Just go to my page.

You can view it online or download to an astounding number of formats.

Anyway you want it, the ebook price is a low, low $4.95. That's less than a penny for each hour of work that went into it! Seriously.

It gets better. Smashwords would like you to buy directly from them. But you don't have to. They make the book available at all the major online sellers, so you can get it along with any other of the million books available electronically.

For example, if you happen to be at Barnes & Noble just add it to your shopping bag.

Only one tiny problem remains, and I'm working to take care of that. Although you can get the book in .mobi format and you can read that on a Kindle, you can NOT buy it directly from Amazon. Soon, though, I hope.

UPDATE: As of September 15, 2011, you can so too buy it directly from Amazon. Go to this page to download it.

In the meantime, however, I can't think of many needs that Smashwords isn't already covering. You can even read a large sample of the book for free.

And the book has been completely updated to ensure that all the URLs given are live, that the products listed are still available, that unavailable products or sites have been eliminated, and comments or updates added wherever necessary.

It's finally ready to go. And that means I can return to posting on this blog. You'll see new posts starting September 5. And then everything is back to normal.

Planet Lactose Emerges from Hibernation

2011-09-03T16:01:00.005-04:00

Hi everybody. As I was saying...

As you can see from the dates, I took some time off. A daily blog about a specialized subject is a tough thing to pull off. I found that I was thinking about content all the time while finding less and less that new and original and worthwhile to post. I needed to break away and clear my head.

Many people have continued to write me with product information or questions or comments. Thank you for thinking of me. I've answered everyone who sent emails, but I fell behind on authorizing comments here on the blog. Unfortunately, the level of spam made me flip the virtual switch so that no comments appeared without my personal OK. I've gone though and adding those for the past few months. I'll try to get in and add comments or answers where appropriate.

You'll see a string of posts over the next couple of weeks that have been accumulating from all that email. I'm going to try to find time to get over to my website, Steve Carper's Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse, and update the pages on books and products. That's immensely time-consuming so please bear with me.

There was one other project that ate up huge amounts of my time, one so big I'm going to separate it out into a post of its own. You'll understand why once you see it.

So, What Can I Eat Now?! Cookbook

2010-11-19T00:02:00.001-05:00

Remember the interrobang?! A combination of a exclamation point and question mark, it was the missing piece of punctuation that all keyboards leave off. There's a whole Facebook page devoted to Bringing Back The Interrobang. And they're right. We need the interrobang and we need it now. Proof? Rhonda Peters just wrote the So, What Can I Eat Now?! cookbook and badly, sadly misses the useful interrobang.

So, What Can I Eat Now?! is subtitled Living Without Dairy, Soy, Eggs, and Wheat, which makes it just right for me to feature here.

Guess what? There's a press release.

Ms. Peters' decision to write a cookbook which focused on low sodium, gluten free, soy free, egg free and dairy free ingredients stems from her own battle with thyroid disease and rheumatoid arthritis and her inability to consume foods with gluten, soy, dairy and eggs due to multiple food allergies. Ms. Peters' 15 year struggle with these chronic health issues and her desire to continue to enjoy the Southern style of cooking which she had enjoyed as a child propelled her to study and dissect traditional Southern and holiday recipes in search of healthy, flavorful alternatives. The result of Ms. Peters' laborious efforts is an exciting new approach to holiday cooking. So if you’re searching for the perfect holiday brunch menu or if you’re trying to prepare a full spread for your family’s holiday gathering, order your copy of So, What Can I Eat Now?!, as it is destined to become the premier holiday cookbook for people with dietary restrictions.

Instead of the links in that press release, try this one: http://rhondascooking.wordpress.com/so-what-can-i-eat-now-cookbook/.

Review of The Kosher Baker

2010-11-18T18:07:00.005-05:00

Rabbi Rebecca Joseph is founder and owner of 12 Tribes Kosher Foods in San Francisco and creator of the Parve Baker, a dairy-free baking blog.

I got very excited when I read that, because it sounded like a great thing to share with you. I'm somewhat less excited when I saw that no new posts have been made in over a year. Still, check out what's there.

Rabbi Rebecca is still writing, though. I found her via a review of The Kosher Baker: Over 160 Dairy-free Recipes from Traditional to Trendy by Paula Shoyer. You may remember that I posted about it two months ago. Yes, I'm that far ahead of the curve.

Anyway, here's an excerpt from her review.

The real test was the whole wheat challah. I regularly make challah in several varieties, but have never found a whole wheat recipe that I wanted to use again. That is, until now. This one balances white and whole flours, honey, sugar, yeast and eggs perfectly in a bread that looks beautiful as a crown or braid, tastes good, and has a substantial, but delicate texture. The dough rises three times so this is a not project that can be rushed. When you can plan ahead, the time is worth it.

There is so much to like about “The Kosher Baker,” including the many practical tips and attention given to special diets. With her sensitivity to dietary restrictions and commitment to expansion of the parve baker’s repertoire, the only disappointment is that Shoyer does not offer much advice to people who are generally concerned about making desserts and other baked goods more nutritious or are soy-sensitive.

The Gluten-Free Mall

2010-11-16T00:02:00.001-05:00

The Gluten-Free Mall has been around since 1998. It's been on my list of LI Links since forever, but I've never devoted a blog post to it.

The Gluten-Free Mall has the best prices and selection of gluten-free, wheat-free, casein-free and other allergy-related health foods and special dietary products on the Internet! All of our gluten-free products are specifically designed for people who need to eat gluten-free foods due to celiac disease, autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD, ADHD) or other health reasons. The Gluten-Free Mall offers you low product and shipping costs, and the convenience of being able to choose from hundreds of gluten-free products and have them shipped to your door. Unlike other companies, 98% of our orders of gluten free food are shipped on the next business day.

Our state-of-the-art Gluten-Free Mall warehouse is centrally located and contains hundreds of hand-selected gluten-free foods from dozens of special dietary food manufacturers so that you can, in only minutes, browse through our products and place a single, secure order. To make it into our warehouse, each gluten-free food manufacturing company must demonstrate its total commitment to high quality and excellent tasting gluten-free products. We are truly a "one-stop shop" for your gluten-free and other special dietary needs!

The Gluten-Free Mall was created by Scott Adams, who is better known in the celiac/gluten-free community for founding Celiac.com.

You can also search for lactose-free products on their site.

Shabtai Bakery Wins Again

2010-11-15T19:06:00.003-05:00

Shabtai Gourmet is a "dedicated gluten free, dairy free, peanut free, soy free, lactose free, casein free, corn free, and kosher bakery." If that isn't amazing enough, it manages to make its desserts tasty with whatever ingredients are left. It just won the Kosherfest Best New Passover Product Competition for the fourth time, for their Gluten-Free Yidels Mini Swiss Chocolate Rolls.

I alerted you to Shabtai last year. But their new press release has even more info.

In past Years Shabtai Gourmet has won best new product with some of their other items, such as their Gluten Free Devils Food Ring Ting Cupcakes, Gluten Free Bell Ring Cakes, & their unforgettable Marzipan Sushi.

Some other delectable allergen friendly desserts baked by Shabtai are his: Gluten Free Honey Cakes, Gluten Free Rainbow Cookies, Gluten Free Flourless Chocolate Cakes, Gluten Free Jelly Rolls, Gluten Free Brownie Bites, Sponge Loaf Cakes & so much more.

Many of Shabtai's baked goods contain no-hydrogenated oils, no trans fats, no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no preservatives, are all natural, and baked with organic ingredients.

Shabtai Gourmet Gluten-Free baked goods are available at fine health food stores and supermarkets all year round and for Passover as well. Shop for Shabtai Gluten-Free items @ www.shabtai-gourmet.com or @ www.glutenfreemall.com.

Use their store locator to find the nearest retail location to you.

Look for Shabtai products at Wegmans, Shoprite, ACME, King Kullen, DAG NYC, Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, Woodmans, Mrs. Greens, Key Food, & Best Yet Markets.

Shabtai Gluten Free Baked goods are now available at select Bloomingdale's stores on the East Coast.

In the weeks prior & during the passover holidays you can find Shabtai Gourmet baked goods at over 35 Supermarket Chains throughout the country. Look for the Kosher for passover symbols listed on their packaging.

Shabtai Gourmet supports various celiac & autism support groups all over the country. Contact them to get involved in your local gluten free event - www.shabtai-gourmet.com
(516) 374-7976.

Health Professional Quality Answers on Food Allergies

2010-11-11T00:02:00.000-05:00

Pulse is a UK site intended for health professionals only. That's code for saying that they use medical terms and expect their readers to understand them.

That's okay. The answers are pretty straightforward, and most people with food allergies have already encountered these terms over the years.

The current topic is Key questions on food allergies. "Allergy GPSI Dr Adrian Morris answers GP Dr Mandy Fry’s questions on diagnosing cow’s milk allergy, prescribing Epipens and the value of allergen avoidance in pregnancy."

Here are some excerpts that are of concern to those with dairy allergies.

2. How can you confirm a diagnosis of cow’s milk allergy?

Cow’s milk allergy is relatively common in infants (1:50) and rarely develops after one year of age. Symptom improvement on a cow’s milk-free diet and recurrence of symptoms with reintroduction of cow’s milk formula is the most accurate diagnostic method.

Skin prick tests using fresh cow’s milk and RAST blood tests for cow’s milk protein IgE antibodies are the only reliable tests and have 60-90% accuracy. The higher the milk-specific IgE, the more likely there is to be a clinically relevant milk allergy. On the other hand, IgG antibody testing for cow’s milk proteins (casein and b-lactoglobulin) is of no diagnostic use.

The clinical history and observation of the infant feeding are very helpful, and a family history of atopy increases the likelihood of a food allergy. Cow’s milk allergy can manifest with immediate urticaria and facial angioedema and respiratory, oral and laryngeal symptoms, as well as deteriorating eczema in addition to typical symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea, persistent reflux, food refusal and even anaphylaxis in severe cases.

Mildly milk-allergic infants will tolerate small amounts of processed dairy produce such as yoghurt and cheese. Infants with severe cow’s milk allergy will react to traces of milk protein in partially hydrolysed formula, and even breast milk, as well as any skin contact.

3. What are the best formula alternatives and what role do other milks play?

Cow’s milk-free formulas are expensive - £8 to £20 per 400g. Amino acid-based formulas such as Neocate and Pepdite are best because they are completely free of cow’s milk protein, but are more expensive than extensively hydrolysed formulas such as Nutramigen and Pregestimil, which are the current preferred cow’s milk-free formulas. Exquisitely sensitive infants may react to traces of cow’s milk protein even in extensively hydrolysed formulae.

An amino acid-based formula provides a good therapeutic trial for initial diagnosis of cow’s milk allergy, after which it would be cheaper to switch to an extensively hydrolysed formula – if it can be tolerated.

Although soy milk is the cheapest alternative formula available at around £4 per 400g, 20% of cow’s milk allergic infants will develop a concomitant soy allergy. The fear that soy milk phyto-oestrogens can feminise male infants is without scientific foundation.

Goat’s milk is inappropriate as it contains many of the allergenic proteins found in cow’s milk, so should not be recommended. Comminuted chicken meat suspensions are another alternative, particularly if there is associated carbohydrate intolerance.

4. How many affected infants will grow out of a cow’s milk allergy?

Half will outgrow their cow’s milk allergy within one year, 75% by two years and 90% within three years. Cow’s milk protein intolerant infants with problematic gastro-oesophageal reflux and colic usually spontaneously recover by the end of the first year. This represents a delayed hypersensitivity to the cow’s milk protein resulting in oesophageal inflammation and eosinophilic infultrates. Depending on severity it makes sense to rechallenge cow’s milk allergic children after one year and then every six months thereafter. In severe cow’s milk allergy challenge testing should not be contemplated outside a hospital setting.

The rest of the article is way too long to repost, but contains a lot of good general information for parents of kids with food allergies. Please take the time to read it.

Yogurt Good for Lactose Intolerance

2010-11-10T00:02:00.002-05:00

I know that headline has a bit of "sun rises in the east" obviousness. I've been telling you for 20 years that yogurt is the best tolerated dairy product even for people with lactose intolerance.

The news is who is saying it. The European Food Safety Authority. And they're backing it up with science. Science!

Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to live yoghurt cultures and improved lactose digestion (ID 1143, 2976) pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006

Summary
Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies was asked to provide a scientific opinion on a list of health claims pursuant to Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. This opinion addresses the scientific substantiation of health claims in relation to live yoghurt cultures and improved lactose digestion. The scientific substantiation is based on the information provided by the Member States in the consolidated list of Article 13 health claims and references that EFSA has received from Member States or directly from stakeholders.

The food constituent that is the subject of the health claim is “yoghurt cultures (live)”, which contain the starter micro-organisms “Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus” as specified by Codex Alimentarius Standard No. 243/2003. The Panel considers that live yoghurt cultures which are the subject of the health claim are sufficiently characterised in relation to the claimed effect.

The claimed effect is “lactose digestion”. The target population is individuals with lactose maldigestion. The Panel considers that improved lactose digestion is a beneficial physiological effect for individuals with lactose maldigestion.

In weighing the evidence, the Panel took into consideration that thirteen of fourteen human studies showed enhanced lactose digestion in lactose maldigesters, when live yoghurt starter cultures were ingested in yoghurt, that the one study which did not show such effect reported reduced symptoms and that there was strong evidence for the biological plausibility of the effect.

The Panel concludes that a cause and effect relationship has been established between the consumption of live yoghurt cultures in yoghurt and improved lactose digestion in individuals with lactose maldigestion.

In order to bear the claim, the yoghurt should contain at least 108 CFU per serving live starter microorganisms (i.e. Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus). The target population is individuals with lactose maldigestion.

Before you lift that spoon to your mouth, remember one small caveat. Many American yogurts aren't really yogurt, but sweet candy concoctions that have lots of extra milk powder added. They're about as healthy as french fries. Real yogurt is slightly sour, and doesn't have much added to it. A bit of flavoring or fruit, maybe. Food companies love to take healthy products and "adapt" them to American tastes by bypassing or even wiping out all the stuff that makes them healthy. A bit of candy is okay, but don't think that candied yogurt is a health food. It's just candy.

FoodGizmo Recipe Search Engine

2010-11-09T17:46:00.003-05:00

Whenever you get large number of sites on a popular subject, somebody always comes up with a way of doing a meta-search on all of them at once. One example I use so often that the URL is burned into my brain is bookfinder.com, a meta-search engine that searches all the major used book sites and returns every copy of a book out there.

There are bunches of major recipe sites on the Internet. Ergo, somebody will create a recipe meta-search engine. And that somebody seems to be foodGizmo. Naturally, they brag all about it in a press release.

Denver-based foodGizmo, LLC, has launched a free website, simplifying the way people find and manage their online recipes. For the first time, using foodGizmo’s recipe search engine, users are able to simultaneously search from dozens of the top recipe sites, including Allrecipes.com, FoodNetwork.com, Food.com, Epicurious.com, CampbellsKitchen.com, MarthaStewart.com, and Allrecipes.com. ...

Going beyond the basic search filters of recipe source, rating, preparation time, and cooking time, foodGizmo has added additional filters that include:

Ingredient Search: Users can enter up to 3 items they have in their pantry and find recipes that meet their needs from across multiple websites.

Nutrition Search: Users can search for recipes by calories, low-fat, low-carb, as well as, Gluten Free and Dairy Free recipes.

Online Recipe Boxes: Users can store their recipes and also share them with friends.

Online Meal Planner: Helps users plan and organize their meals for the day, week or month.

Grocery List: Members can quickly and easily create grocery lists from the recipes they find on foodGizmo.

Study Confirms That Raw Milk Doesn't Work for Lactose Intolerance

2010-11-06T00:02:00.002-04:00

News flash! Ball dropped from hand hits ground! News flash! Sun rises in east! News flash! Raw milk is no different from pasteurized milk!

Nobody in the world should be surprised by any of these. Even so, there somehow exists a large community of people who think that for some reason - usually a scientifically illiterate one - people with lactose intolerance who can't drink pasteurized milk can drink raw milk.

A lot of these people get paid by the Weston A. Price Foundation to put out propaganda touting the wondrous properties of raw milk. They even released a "study" in 2008 in which they surveyed a group of raw milk advocates and guess what they found? Amazingly, the people who buy and drink raw milk say that they can drink raw milk. The "study" was never published in a peer-reviewed journal so it wasn't checked by actual scientists. The FDA took one look at the methodology of the study and metaphorically walked out of the room.

I talk about that study and a magazine article by raw milk propagandist David Gumpert in Raw Milk Article Long but Flawed.

Gumpert is back with another article, this one for Grist Magazine.

The folks at the Weston A. Price Foundation, apparently having found out that no one who is not already a True Believer will swallow a fake "study" having as much scientific validity as one of those online "test your own IQ" sites. They hired Christopher Gardner, an associate professor of medicine at Stanford Medical School to do a real, controlled study.

Here's the result you get when you conduct a real study.

"The data fail to support our hypothesis that Raw Milk confers some benefit over Pasteurized Milk in the form of an improvement in the experience of symptoms of lactose intolerant adults."

Man, I would have loved, loved, loved to have seen their faces as Weston A. Price when they got that piece of news.

The study findings came out exactly the way any sensible person would have expected, given the known science:

[P]articipants went through three eight-day phases during which they consumed pasteurized milk, raw milk, and soy milk. Gardner notes that "the severity of the symptoms was virtually identical for the raw vs. pasteurized milk, while the symptoms of the soy milk were quite a bit, and statistically significantly, lower."

Raw milk = pasteurized milk in producing symptoms of lactose intolerance. Science!

Gumpert desperately backpedals to find reasons to discount the study as much as possible. It was small, only of 16 people. Gardner responded, "However, despite the small sample size, the results are remarkably consistent. I do not think the sample size proved to be a problem for the study, and that a larger study would have generated the same overall finding, just more strongly."

Gardner attributes the small size of his study to exactly the same problem I spent a whole month writing about in my series of posts about the NIH State of the Science Conference on LI. It's really, really hard to find people who show symptoms to lactose in the laboratory, no matter how horrible they claim their symptoms are in daily life. It's a mystery why this should be. That's the Phase 2 that really needs to happen, not yet another study on why raw milk turns out to contain exactly the same amount of lactose as um, milk.

I realize this won't stop the craziness. A Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures Dairy Company, another raw milk advocate who co-sponsored the study, was already being quoted by Gumpert babbling something scientifically incoherent. Raw Milk is a religious belief. True Believers are not susceptible to facts that contradict their beliefs.

I have a True Belief of my own. That those of you who follow this blog regularly have learned enough about science to dismiss the irrational beliefs of advocates.

So repeat after me today's science lesson: Raw milk contains exactly as much lactose as pasteurized milk. It will produce the same symptoms ounce for ounce in those who are LI. It contains no magical properties that neutralize the lactose. If you get symptoms from pasteurized milk, you will get the same symptoms for an equal quantity of raw milk.

Simple and scientific. Spread the word.

LI and Pregnancy

2010-11-04T00:02:00.002-04:00

Megan sent me the following email and said I could share it with you.

I am 27 and pregnant. And I recently discovered something I think is amazing and not very well known. I wanted to share in hopes of informing other pregnant women. Nearly half of women who are LI prior to pregnancy do not suffer from symptoms during pregnancy. I have done a little research on the topic and can't seem to find too much of a scientific explanation other than the slowed digestion that takes place. It seems as though the body recognizes the need for calcium in order to grow a healthy fetus and acts accordingly. I have been severely LI for 10 years and during this pregnancy I have been able to eat and drink ALL kinds of dairy with only slight discomfort a handful of times (and it's entirely possible I over did it those times due to my new found freedom. Lol)

I've written about this before over at my website. Many women have written to me. Some, like Megan, found that their LI symptoms went away during pregnancy. Others became LI during pregnancy but saw their symptoms go away later.

What gives? Well, Megan also sent a very good link to a pregnancy advice page featuring a response by Joanne Saab, RD. Saab "is a registered dietitian who practices in pediatrics at McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario." And she writes:

This is actually a very common phenomenon during pregnancy. Many women find they experience an improvement in lactose tolerance when they get pregnant and, for some, this ability to digest lactose remains after they deliver, but for others their lactose intolerance returns or even becomes worse.

Healthcare professionals often talk about a "rule of thirds" during pregnancy. The "rule of thirds" means that approximately one third of pregnant women will see an improvement in their symptoms, one third will remain the same, and one third will see their symptoms worsen. This rule of thirds can occur with many conditions, including: migraine headaches, eczema, asthma and lactose intolerance. Researchers still don't completely understand why this happens, although some attribute it to hormonal changes during pregnancy.

Yep, yet another thing about lactose intolerance that doctors don't understand. (Remember my million-part series on the State of the Science Lactose Intolerance Conference at the National Institutes of Health? Here's a summary to start with.)

All I can suggest is that you experiment with small amounts of easily digestible dairy products like yogurt and hard cheeses first and then progress onto to other types of dairy if you can tolerate those. You may be part of the lucky third.

Kitchen Chemistry - Dairy Division

2010-11-02T21:53:00.004-04:00

I received an email from Emma Taylor of Accredited Online Colleges. On their blog they have a list of links they call Kitchen Chemistry: 100 Cool Food Science Experiments for Kids (and Cooks).

Science is awesome. Food is awesome. Blending the two together rocks faces off. Teachers and parents looking for some projects to introduce their students to the basic principles of chemistry, physics, biology and more can easily turn to the kitchen for inspiration. The following experiments vary when it comes to materials, difficulty levels and cost, so read them over thoroughly before making any commitments. Always practice proper safety precautions as well, most especially when tooling around with fire and acids and other lovely things.

The first 20 links go to experiments on Milk, Yogurt & Cheese. They include "DIY Yogurt: Making yogurt at home or in class makes for an excellent way to illustrate how helpful bacteria work — and all the good things they can do for the human body." and "Milk Glue: A brew of milk, vinegar and baking soda makes for a viable, sustainable adhesive for minor projects."

True, except for the yogurt one, the page is not really relevant to lactose intolerance, let alone avoiding milk. Well, tough. I like science. And the more you know about all aspects of milk, the better off you are. Besides, most kids and most people with LI can have most forms of dairy.

I'm going to reinforce the statement in the quoted paragraph. Because the links go to other websites, the quality, the presentation, and the age range of the experiments varies considerably. Check them out first before getting your kids involved. I haven't tried any of them and I can't vouch for their accuracy or practicality.

Lactose-Free Statin Drug Lescol

2010-10-30T21:28:00.003-04:00

Statin drugs are prescribed to reduce cholesterol, making them some of the most commonly used drugs in America. Unfortunately, nearly every one of them uses lactose as an inactive ingredient.

Several years ago I had hopes that a new statin drug that didn't cause muscle pain, a common side-effect, might also be lactose-free. No such luck. Ezetrol (ezetimibe) does contain lactose now that it's on the market.

There is one brand name that doesn't. Lescol.

Lescol doesn't work for everybody and has side-effects of its own, as a correspondent recently wrote me. I tried to find a substitute, but no luck.

The alternative is to pay an additional fee and go to a compounding pharmacy. They make up prescriptions to order with offending ingredients removed. I wrote about them in Try a Compounding Pharmacy for Lactose-Free Medications and it's time I gave you a reminder.

The links I gave then are still good.

There seem to be two major trade organizations.

The Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA) has more than 3500 members, many of them outside American in Canada, Australia, Europe and New Zealand. To find a compounding pharmacist close to you, call them at 1-800-331-2498 or email customerservice@pccarx.com.

The International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP) represents more than "1,800 pharmacists, physicians, technicians and patients."

Milk's Not the Worst Thing Your Teenager Can Do

2010-10-27T00:02:00.003-04:00

How bad has the anti-milk and milk is poison campaigns gotten? Parents are now going to doctors worried sick because their healthy children are *gasp* drinking milk.

You're going to think I'm making this up, so I have to quote this letter to the doctor column of the major UK newspaper, The Guardian.

Since my 15-year-old son was born, he has been a great milk drinker. Now, at 6ft tall, healthy, active and without an ounce of fat on him, he drinks between 12 and 16 pints of milk a week, and we're a little worried about the possible long-term effects. He is of mixed Indian/English background – I say this because I know that lactose intolerance can be a problem for Asians, having experienced it first hand. What can we advise him?

What a horrible tragedy! He's fit, fat-free, 6ft tall. He's practically superhuman. Let's stop this madness!

Fortunately, Dr. Tom Clark doesn't see the need to panic. In fact, he says, calmly, "There are a whole lot worse teenage habits to have than drinking a lot of milk."

I can't help but be reminded of PETA's horrifying - and failed - "Got Beer" campaign. Back in 2000, they seriously tried to make the claim. "The campaign compares the nutritional and moral benefits of beer vs. milk, and says beer comes out on top."

Honestly, milk is better for your 15-year-old child than beer. As long as he's fit and doesn't start showing lactose intolerance symptoms, then he's just fine. Maybe he'll become a doctor, even, giving more good medical advice.

Goat Milk No Cure for Lactose Intolerance

2010-10-26T00:02:00.001-04:00

I could do a post about the ignorance of people concerning goat milk almost every day. It would bore you and raise my blood pressure, so I don't. I said it all last year when I asked Goat Milk. Will the Ignorance Ever Stop?

In that post I wrote, "Goat milk dairy products will contain almost exactly the same amount of lactose as cow's milk dairy products." That's true. It's true today. It was true fifty years ago, too.

So how do you explain this, Mr. Smarty Pants?, I hear you ask when you read:

"I am standing here in front of you today because my father was born lactose intolerant," Joey Hoegger of Hoegger Supply tells his audience.

When Hoegger’s father was born and couldn't stomach the cow's milk, Hoegger's grandfather was advised to use goat's milk instead.

(The credulous reporter is Adelia Ladson of The Moultrie Observer.

If goat milk has exactly the same amount of lactose as cow's milk then how did Joey Hoegger's father survive? Because he wasn't lactose intolerant. He might have been allergic to cow's milk, though. Goat's milk does have a different set of proteins than does cow's milk, so some people who are allergic to the one are not allergic to the other.

As I keep repeating, however, lactose intolerance and milk protein allergy are two entirely different things, having no relation to one another at all. They merely both involve milk.

Since this can literally be life and death, the distinction is critical. Let's hope that doctors can explain themselves better today than they could when Mr. Hoegger was born.

Daiya Vegan Cheese Makes Good Lasagna, She Says

2010-10-25T00:02:00.003-04:00

aiya is the hottest new dairy-free product that I've seen in a while. I first posted about it a year ago and it's made my blog several times since.

Why all the attention? Because of the extraordinary claims Daiya makes.

Daiya is a revolutionary new dairy-free vegan cheese that tastes, shreds, melts and stretches like dairy based cheese. Daiya is not made with casein, the protein found in dairy products or soy, common to many other non-dairy cheese alternatives. In fact, Daiya does not contain any common allergens, animal products or cholesterol.

A non-allergic vegan cheese that melts like real dairy cheese can, dare I say it, rule the world! Or at least, lasagna.

That's what Missy Berggren says on her blog at MinnPost.com.

The Daiya cheese was gooey and tasted great, and the flavor of the sauce tastes the same as the traditional recipe. The best part though? It reheated well in the microwave! I feasted on this lasagna for days and it reheated really well each time.

Now, I don't want you to think it tastes exactly like regular cheese, because it doesn't. But it's by far the best substitute I've tried - and the consistency makes it awesome!

Sophie Safe Food Guide

2010-10-24T21:15:00.003-04:00

It's been three years since I posted about Emily Hendrix's Sophie-Safe Cooking: A Collection of Family Friendly Recipes That are Free of Milk, Eggs, Wheat, Soy, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Fish and Shellfish.

Ms. Hendrix has not been idle since. She recently alerted me to her new endeavor, the Sophie Safe Food Guide.

Sophie Safe Food Guide will expand your options and speed up your grocery shopping. Once you have registered for a free membership, you can set up a profile listing the dietary restrictions of members of your family. Using the profile you build, the Sophie Safe Food Guide will search ingredient lists containing 16002 foods, and match your needs with items that you can find in the grocery store. Not sure if this will be helpful? Try it out...for FREE!

There's also a premium membership for $3/Month or $30/Year that offers a few more bells and whistles.

Rice-Based Dairy-Free Protein Powder

2010-10-22T15:16:00.003-04:00

I've said frequently and forcefully that detox and purification programs are quackery. You don't have toxic chemicals in your body that can be "detoxified" nor is stuff sitting up in your colon that doesn't come out with normal excretion.

Normally, therefore, when I see a product designed for a purification program I'd just skip right over it.

Of course, products have more than one use and some of those uses may be far more beneficial.

That's why I'm mentioning Standard Process's SP Complete Dairy Free rice protein powder.

SP Complete Dairy Free is a nutritious whole food supplement powder that mixes with water, or with fruits and vegetables to make healthy shakes. It provides vital nutrients, and contains the same whole food ingredients as SP Complete, but with rice protein instead of whey.

There are many whey-based and soy-based protein powders on the market. Unfortunately, a large number of people are allergic to whey or soy or both. An alternative and less-allergenic protein source is valuable to know about.

Green Valley Organics Debuts Lactose-Free Kefir

2010-10-20T21:52:00.003-04:00

Kefir is an age-old fermented dairy drink. Think of it being a little like a drinkable yogurt. There's been true lactose-free dairy yogurts for years, but I hadn't heard of a lactose-free dairy kefir before.

But Green Valley Organics just debuted lactose-free kefir. And a line of lactose-free yogurts too, just to make it interesting.

Green Valley Organics™ is the first line of lactose free yogurts and kefirs to be available nationwide, making it possible for millions of lactose intolerant Americans to enjoy the great taste and health benefits of real dairy without tummy troubles.

To create these first-of-their-kind products, the natural enzyme lactase is added. Lactose intolerant individuals do not produce lactase and therefore cannot digest the milk sugar, lactose, in dairy. When added to the milk the lactase breaks down the lactose into the easily digested simple sugars glucose and galactose. No chemicals are used and the nutritional composition of the milk is not altered in any way so consumers still get all of the great taste, calcium, protein and B vitamins of real dairy without the unpleasant symptoms of lactose intolerance.

"Fermented dairy products like yogurt and kefir are functional superfoods that help promote bone health, good digestion and a strong immune system,” said Dr. Liz Applegate, Director of Sports Nutrition at UC Davis. “Until now, lactose intolerant consumers haven’t had a lactose free, real dairy option which Green Valley Organics delivers with live active cultures that have a variety of health benefits.”

In addition to being delicious, Certified Humane®, low fat, kosher, GMO and gluten-free, Green Valley Organics is also the only dairy brand to offer Flourish™ – a custom blend of 10 live active probiotic cultures that promotes optimal digestive and immune system health (the USDA requires two cultures for yogurts).

Green Valley Organics blends the best quality fruits and ingredients into its creamy smooth and naturally sweet, lower-in-sugar yogurts and kefirs, which also makes these products an excellent choice for diabetics or anyone watching their sugar intake. Yogurt flavors include Plain, Blueberry, Honey, Strawberry and Vanilla. Kefir is available in Traditional Plain and Blueberry Pomegranate Acai.

Dr. Applegate must have a deal with Green Valley, because they also feature a whole page on her answering questions about lactose intolerance.

FDA Crackdown on Chelators

2010-10-18T00:02:00.002-04:00

Sadly for the hopes of many parents, the GFCF (gluten-free, dairy-free) diet has not passed any medical testing as a cure for autism. The claims made by the people who tout the diet are suspect anyway, because they try many different things at once. This is quite natural and understandable, but it makes nonsense of any chance of separating out what works from what doesn't.

The evidence suggests that not much works, which makes piling pills upon the other attempts even more problematical.

Here's a quick rule that should work in almost every situation. If someone says you need to "detoxify," put your hand on your wallet and run in the other direction.

Chelators are powerful chemicals that are designed to remove heavy metals from the body. They work for the few individuals who really do have heavy metal buildup. There is not the slightest evidence that autistic children do or that their bodies have to be detoxified of them.

That doesn't prevent unscrupulous companies from selling chelators to parents to give to their children. The FDA has stepped in to put a stop to the quackery. The article by Deborah Huso on AOL Health said:

[Thursday, October 15, 2010] the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cracked down on eight companies marketing purportedly dangerous over-the-counter treatments for autism. The companies sell products, known as chelators, touting them as effective in the treatment of autism as well as heart disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and macular degeneration.

The FDA warned eight companies, including World Health Products, LLC, and Evenbetternow, LLC, to correct violations that misled consumers into believing unproven treatments for autism and other diseases are safe and effective. One of the companies cited for violations, Artery Health Institute, LLC, claims on its website that its oral chelation product can reverse atherosclerosis. ...

"The companies advertising these products claim that these diseases are the result of heavy metal contamination in the body and that chelators will 'detoxify' them," FDA spokesperson Siobhan DeLancey told AOL Health. "There is no proof that 'detoxification' using these products is effective to prevent or treat any of these conditions."

DeLancey warns any consumers currently making use of these drugs to treat themselves or their children to cease their use and consult a physician immediately. The use of chelators can lead to dangerous dehydration, kidney failure and even death.

Please do not use these pills for any purposes for which they are not intended by prescription. Dump them out of your medicine cabinets if you already have them. Trying anything is not always better than trying nothing. Some things are truly dangerous.

Liquid Lactase on Sale at eBay

2010-10-17T12:36:00.008-04:00

Despite all the anguish from a few whenever liquid lactase drops vanish from the American market, the sad reality is that not enough people buy them.

I posted last year that Remko Hiemstra, a Dutch manufacturer of lactase, had made Disolact liquid lactase available through eBay.

The bad news is that it didn't sell as well as he hoped. The good news is that he is putting the last 200 bottles up for sale on eBay at a reduced "buy now" price of $4.50 plus $2.00 shipping.

Go to eBay to make a purchase. You can also enter in a lower bid.

The Dairy Free Diva Recipe Exchange

2010-10-16T00:27:00.002-04:00

At the top of the Dairy Free Diva Recipe Exchange Site stands a whole lone of corralled cows cowed behind the universal big red slashing line that symbolized NO. No dairy. No meat. No processed cow effluvia.

Just recipes galore. Potato-Leek Breakfast Casserole. Cornmeal-Crusted Tempeh. Cashew Cheeze Spread. Spinach Fettuccine with Creamy Pesto Sauce. Vegan New England Chowder.

Click on any of the pictures of the foods,

like the Almond Sour Cream Coffee Cake

and you'll be taken to a long and detailed set of instructions.

Looks to be lots of amazing recipes. Please give them a try and come back and drop off a review.

Most Vegan Friendly College

2010-10-15T00:27:00.001-04:00

OK, it's from PETA2, the younger-skewing and fortunately less batshit insane offshoot of PETA. But the competition doesn't see out to offend people with brains and sensibilities. It's a March Madness-like playoff for the Most Vegan Friendly College.

Does your college have faux-chicken drumsticks that would put any side salad to shame? How about a soy ice-cream bar? Or veggie sushi, made to order? Schools on our Most Vegan-Friendly Colleges list do! Check out all the tasty vegan options that our top schools offer and then vote for your favorite to help us decide who will get the prestigious title of peta2's Most Vegan-Friendly College!

Round 1: The competition is underway! Choose carefully, as these top schools battle it out head-to-head, fighting for the title of Most Vegan-Friendly College in the country! Voting for round 1 ends October 18. Winners will be announced November 19, so cast your vote to help us decide who will win!

Round 2: Voting for round 2 ends October 25. Winners will be announced November 19, so cast your vote to help us decide who will win!

Round 3: Voting for round 3 ends November 1. Winners will be announced November 19, so cast your vote to help us decide who will win!

Round 4: Voting for round 4 ends November 8. Winners will be announced November 19, so cast your vote to help us decide who will win!

Round 5: Voting for round 5 ends November 15, and winners will be announced November 19, so cast your vote to help us decide who will win!

Instructions: Select your favorite large U.S. school in each matchup by clicking on the button next to the logo. Be sure to fill out the form at the bottom of the page and hit "Submit" to make sure your vote comes through to help us pick the contenders. And don't forget to vote for small U.S. schools and Canadian schools too!

Crains Cleveland Business has a squib on the healthy competition.

Kent State University and Oberlin College are among the schools in contention for the most vegan-friendly college competition sponsored by peta2, the young adult arm of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

At Kent State this fall, "dining services is working alongside students to unveil a new vegan-friendly menu with dozens of delectable dishes, including Alpine vegan chicken casserole, vegan stuffed green peppers, and dairy-free chocolate ice cream," peta2 notes.

The group says Oberlin "is among the most vegan-friendly schools in the nation and has been for years. Tofu and red pepper stir-fry with quinoa, Creole-style vegan jambalaya, and vegan gumbo are just a few of the dozens of premier vegan options to be found at this top liberal arts school."

Sounds good, sounds tasty, sounds healthy, and doesn't sound batshit insane. A real step up for PETA.

UK Dairy Free Chocolate

2010-10-14T22:16:00.004-04:00

Neandra Etienne taste-tested a variety of dairy-free chocolates available in stores or on line in the UK for The Collective Review.

I'm not going to give you the whole reviews, because that would be copying too much. However, here are the chocolates cited and their websites. For Etienne's opinions, visit the page linked above.

Dairy Free
www.dairy-free.co.uk

Rococo Chocolates
www.rococochocolates.com

Seed Stacked Flapjack
www.seedstacked.com

Chocolala
www.chocolala.co.uk

Freefrom
www.sainsburys.co.uk/freefrom

History of the Food Pyramid

2010-10-11T22:46:00.003-04:00

I started my website, Steve Carper's Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse, back in 1997. (And don't say that it looks it. It doesn't. It looks like the 1998 version. So there.)

That was several generations ago in internet terms. I was on Compuserve even earlier. Compared to the hordes that crowd the net now, I'm an oldbie.

Yet there are still many things that I never understand. Like why a history of the U.S. Food Pyramid would appear on an Australian blog site. (Which means it's dated tomorrow as I write this. How's that for breaking news!)

It's a pretty good history, though. Worth the read. Lots of pictures to help it go down.

And some relevance to those who are lactose intolerant.

In theory, we digest and process food in the same ways, but a lot of us have allergies and dietary restrictions. Whether your restrictions are voluntary or not, you probably have to substitute a normal item you find on the food group pyramid for something else. It's important to remember that substitutes can have a major difference in nutritional value and to know what those differences are. Let's take lactose intolerance and milk as an example. If you're replacing milk, your most obvious choices are soy milk and rice milk. Rice milk has significantly higher levels of carbohydrates than regular milk, and soy milk often has a lot of sugar added (not always the case, but it's always worth checking first). If you don't eat meat and are looking at substitutes, many of them have a very high sodium content that you wouldn't find in actual meat. This isn't necessarily worse; it's just different. It's important to be aware of the differences in substitutions and not assume you're getting the exact same nutrients you'll find in the item it was designed to replace.

Scream Sorbet

2010-10-09T16:24:00.003-04:00

Sorbet is slowly becoming more popular. A few good restaurants would offer a selection of sorbets after a meal, yielding an intensely fruity treat that needed only a few bites to satisfy. Sorbets are big tastes, a sipper's delight rather than a gulper's. Brandies are less popular than beer, too.

With dairy-free desserts inching their way into the general market, sorbets are due. And new food processing technologies are making possible sorbets that go beyond fruit tastes into the weirder world that high end ice creams are also pursuing.

The New York Times Magazine - which did an article a few weeks ago on a man who made hibiscus beet, bourbon and cornflake, prosciutto, and chocolate smoked sea salt ice creams - has followed it up with one on a man who figured out a way to make nut-based sorbets.

Making frozen treats is as much about composition as it is equipment. "In some ways," [Nathan] Kurz says, "the other reason I started this business was that I’d been reading about El Bulli and how they were using Pacojets. Some people lust after cars, I lusted after kitchen machinery." Basically, he let a $4,000 gadget determine his fate. (He advises everyone to read about the process to understand this seemingly rash decision.) "Normally, you make ice cream in a batch freezer," he explains. "You freeze the outside and scrape along the outside as it [the ice cream] freezes. It's the same as the hand-churned thing you use at home, and it works great, if what you’re starting with is already smooth."

The Pacojet is simpler: "It doesn't include refrigeration, and part of its process is to make things silky smooth." It's true. You can add whole nuts and fruits to this machine and "still end up with a silky smooth texture." As he explains the process, "you freeze your sorbet chunky first in a one-quart container. Then the blade spins around; it goes from the top of the round cylinder down to the bottom at a rate of several thousand R.P.M. It takes four minutes to process."

He discovered that using a Pacojet meant he could add less sugar to his sorbet and yield more intensity from his main ingredient. His approach goes against everything that McGee and others who rely on the traditional methods counsel. They encourage adding water (to achieve the required puree that Kurz's equipment renders unnecessary), then lemon juice (to draw out the diluted product's weakened flavor) and finally more sugar (to compensate for all that extra volume). "We don’t add anything unless it tastes good," he says; that means they also won’t add anything that tastes like nothing, such as a stabilizer. The Scream stuff is thicker than other sorbets and made from fewer ingredients. With higher fruit content and no additives, it has the texture of gelato but is more concentrated in flavor.

His pistachio sorbet contains pistachios, water, sugar, and sea salt. Nothing else.

You won't find it everywhere, but a variety of farmers' markets in northern California carry it and he will soon open a storefront in Oakland, CA.

More importantly, he ships anywhere Federal Express offers overnight service.

Lactose Intolerants a Possible Market for Dairy

2010-10-07T19:27:00.004-04:00

Lactose-free milk is the one dairy product that sells well. Lactose-free ice creams exist, and so do lactose-free cottage cheeses and sour creams, but they are the tiniest of niche products.

Even so, the amount of lactose-free milk isn't anywhere near proportional to the percentage of lactose intolerant people in the U.S. And the dairy industry thinks that this is an opportunity.

The Innovation Center for US Dairy issued a white paper saying that this is "an opportunity to achieve 273 million gallons of incremental growth by targeting the lactose intolerant consumer segment."

"Our extensive consumer research and analysis found that 81 percent of lactose intolerant consumers would be willing to include dairy in their diets if they could do so while minimizing symptoms," said Jim Layne, vice president of strategic initiatives with Dairy Management Inc.™ "This shows that a solid opportunity exists to meet the health and enjoyment needs of this market segment with nutrient-rich dairy foods. ...

"There is a solution to lactose intolerance that is not avoidance or restriction,” Layne said. "Increasing consumption of dairy in the lactose intolerant consumer segment could help grow long-term loyalty, generation after generation, totaling 2.35 billion pounds of incremental growth."

Like any good research marketing firm, the Innovation Center folks broke down the market and into target segments.

The four segments below offer the most significant growth opportunities for lactose-free milk and dairy.

Healthy Wealthy consumers make up 20 percent of the lactose intolerant segment. People in this group tend to be college-educated, employed and health-conscious. They are considered milk-friendly, but don’t drink a lot — preferring 1 percent to whole milk — and only 44 percent consider milk to be a healthy choice. Reinforcing the benefits of dairy would be a strong approach for this group. Lactose-free milk and dairy recipes may appeal to them.

Family Milk Lovers constitute 20 percent of the lactose intolerant segment. Two-thirds female, and generally married, this group includes family milk consumption “gatekeepers.” They associate milk with health, enjoyment and taste, and shy away from lactose-free due to cost and its different taste. Messages showing lactose-free milk as a whole-family solution may resonate with this group.

Avoiders represent 20 percent of lactose intolerant consumers. More likely to suffer from gastrointestinal disorders, obesity and high cholesterol, this group is the least likely to have tried lactose-free foods. They are open to dairy solutions, and good-tasting lactose-free milk and milk products may succeed with these consumers.

Aware and Managing consumers represent just 14 percent of the lactose intolerant segment. As the oldest market segment, nearly one-fourth is retired. They are the most likely to have their lactose intolerance diagnosed by a physician and to drink lactose-free milk. Their awareness and symptom management allows them to enjoy dairy, but they also are experimenting with alternatives such as soy. There is room to increase loyalty with this group.

Enjoy dairy yourself... if your only issue is lactose intolerance.

You can email them at InnovationCenter@USDairy.com for a copy of the white paper, "Lactose Intolerance: Opportunity to Grow Volume for Dairy through Dispelling Myths and Meeting Consumer Needs."

Chocolate World Expo

2010-10-06T20:12:00.003-04:00

Chocolate. More chocolate. Even more chocolate.

Sound good?

With over 50 vendors, Chocolate World Expo is one of the largest retail chocolate shows in the U.S. Let's pretend that this article from the Hudson Valley Press is something other than a press release masquerading as news.

Record numbers of chocolate lovers and foodies from near and far are expected at the upcoming Chocolate World Expo, which returns to the Westchester County Center in White Plains, on Sunday, November 7th, from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Visitors will have a chance to taste, purchase, celebrate and otherwise indulge in delicious gourmet chocolates, as well as a wonderful array of baked goods, specialty foods, ice cream, cheeses, wines and much more at the show. ...

To suit a variety of other dietary needs and tastes, certain vendors will also feature all-natural, organic, raw, vegan, fair trade, dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, low-glycemic, kosher and/or ethnic-style choices.

Chocolate.

Smart Balance Adds Another Lactose-Free Milk

2010-10-04T22:50:00.003-04:00

Late last year I told you about the line of Smart Balance lactose-free products.

Their lactose-free fat-free milk with omega-3s was just rolling out at that point. I guess it was a success. Not only is it now available nationwide, but they've introduced a companion lactose-free milk. Here's the press release.

Smart Balance, Inc. is launching Smart Balance™ Lactose-Free Fat Free and Calcium milk, the latest addition to its popular line of enhanced milks and innovative heart healthier products. ...

Like all of the fat free milks in the Smart Balance line of enhanced milks, the lactose-free milks have the rich, creamy taste of 2% without the saturated fat. Our new Smart Balance™ Lactose-Free Fat Free and Calcium milk has 75% more calcium and 20% more protein than whole milk. The added calcium is great for those who avoid dairy and have a hard time getting enough calcium for healthy bones.

Also available nationwide is Smart Balance™ Lactose-Free Fat Free and Omega-3s milk, which has the added benefits of Omega-3s as well as 20% more protein and 20% more calcium than regular milk. It provides an excellent source of heart-healthy EPA/DHA Omega-3s (32 mg per serving, 20% of the 160 mg daily value).

Caribbean Vegan

2010-10-01T00:02:00.002-04:00

Caribbean Vegan: Meat-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free Authentic Island Cuisine for Every Occasion, by Taymer Mason is brand-new, it's publication date being today, presumably the day when everybody in the north starts longing for that Caribbean vacation.

Product Description
Here is your passport to a world of distinctive, unforgettable food—125 delicious, authentic vegan recipes that showcase flavors and ingredients from across the Caribbean islands

If “Caribbean cuisine” makes you think of pineapples and coconuts, you’re missing out. The Caribbean islands are home to a rich cooking tradition that combines African, French, Spanish, British, Asian, and Indian influences, adds an unmistakable local flair . . . and tastes like paradise. A real secret is in the herbs and spices—with the right uncooked sauce, cooked sauce, or “wet seasoning” blend, you can transform everyday ingredients into Caribbean delights.

Caribbean Vegan will spice up your vegan diet like no other cookbook. Popular blogger Taymer Mason serves up 125 completely vegan recipes—for breakfast dishes, appetizers, entrées, sides, soups, desserts, and drinks that are anything but bland. Sample the local flavors of Barbados, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Grenada, and the French West Indies with:

Saint Lucian Bakes
Eggplant and Seaweed Accras
Bajan Soup with Dumplings
Rummy Rum and Raisin Ice Cream . . . and much more!

Enticing color photos and Island Tips explain the key ingredients, equipment, and techniques of Caribbean cuisine—so whatever your previous familiarity with Caribbean food, you’ll be cooking like an islander in no time.

About the Author
Taymer Mason grew up in a family of cooks who taught her to make—and love!—traditional Caribbean cuisine. She went vegan in 2006 while an undergraduate at the University of the West Indies and discovered that, far from being limiting, it was an exciting new way to cook her old favorites. Now she writes the popular cooking blog Vegan in the Sun. She lives with her husband and their cat in the French West Indies, but she appreciates the unique culture and cuisine of all the islands—and especially of her birthplace, Barbados.

Honestly, I originally read that as "Taymer Mason grew up in a family of cooks who taught her to make love! using traditional Caribbean customs." I'm a very bad person.

The Experiment trade paperback
256 pages
List price: $18.95

The Gluten-Free Girl Is Back ... and Married

2010-09-30T00:02:00.009-04:00

Hey remember the blogger Shauna James Ahern, the Gluten-Free Girl?

She's been busy since I wrote about her. She's continued her blog, gor married, and now has a cookbook out with her husband. In hardcover no less, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, by Shauna James Ahern and Daniel Ahern.

Product Description
The first cookbook from the author of Gluten-Free Girl and GlutenFreeGirl.com

Combining tempting recipes with an authentic love story, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef is a narrative cookbook for anyone who loves food.

A must-have for those who need to eat gluten-free, this cookbook offers irresistible stories and plenty of mouth-watering meals. From the authors of the much-loved food blog, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, the book includes evocative photos, cooking techniques, and 100 chef-tested recipes that are sure to give joy in the belly.

•Illustrates the working day of a talented chef and what he does to put delicious food on the plate
•Contains great-tasting recipes that everyone can cook and eat
•Meant to be read cover to cover

Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef inspires anyone who has to eat gluten-free to say yes to the food he or she can eat.

Wiley Hardback
288 pages
List Price: $29.95

Animal Glandular Products

2010-09-29T00:02:00.000-04:00

"Search" is the most amazing aspect of the Internet. Forget about YouTube or FailBlog. It's when you enter terms into Search that you find the things that prove that solipsism can't be true. Your mind could never invent these, so it's impossible that the universe is a figment of your imagination.

Don't believe me? Then believe your eyes. I present Animal Glandular Products: Milk, Camel, Infant Formula, Lactose Intolerance, Ambergris, Chocolate Milk, Lanolin, Dairy Farming, Milkshake.

Milkshake?

Product Description
Chapters: Milk, Camel, Infant Formula, Lactose Intolerance, Ambergris, Chocolate Milk, Lanolin, Dairy Farming, Milkshake, United States Raw Milk Debate, Breast Pump, Asses' Milk, Condensed Milk, Bulk Tank, Lactation, 1933 Wisconsin Milk Strike, Fat Content of Milk, Musk, Victor Horsley, Egg Cream, Gerber Method, Ultra-High-Temperature Processing, Buttermilk, Powdered Milk, Whey, Evaporated Milk, Milking Pipeline, Osteoblast Milk Protein, Castoreum, Moose Milk, Lactagen, Milk Float, Milk Paint, A2 Milk, Frijj, Curd, Coffee Milk, Cow Blowing, Malted Milk, Milkman, Flavored Milk, Lactofree, Babcock Test, Ocean of Milk, Sheep Milk, Milkmaid, Maine's Own Organic Milk Company, Buffalo Curd, F-100, Doogh, Strawberry Milk, Unistraw, Ymer, Babycino, Milk Marketing Board, Ambrein, Whey Acidic Protein, Ginger Milk Curd, Baked Milk, Scalded Milk, Channel Island Milk, Microfoam, Milk Basic Protein, Ultrafiltered Milk, Chaas, Special Milk Program, Soda Sữa Hột Gà, Vanilla Milk, Milk Protein Concentrate, Utilization Rates, Vio, Steamer, Ox Gall, Agglutinin, Lactometer.

Frijj?

It's a brand name of milkshake. And the madness comes full circle.

Available at BooksLLC.net

PDF download
336 pages
Reprinted: 2010, General Books, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
List price: $9.99

Primal Blueprint Cookbook

2010-09-28T00:02:00.001-04:00

The Stone Age Diet is like the DC Comics villian, Vandal Savage, an immortal remnant of the paleolithic that just keeps coming back.

The latest booster is Mark Sisson, another self-invented fitness guru, whose blog and website boosts the Primal Blueprint.

And there is a Primal Blueprint Cookbook as well.

The popularity of the low carb/paleo/Primal way of eating has exploded, as people discover an appealing and sustainable alternative to the restrictive diets and flawed conventional wisdom that lead to burnout and failed weight loss efforts. Until now, high-quality cookbooks written for this growing community simply haven't existed. The dream of eating satisfying meals—even on a budget—controlling weight and feeling great has now become a reality. Make your transition to Primal eating easy and fun with this innovative cookbook from Primal Blueprint author Mark Sisson, and acclaimed chef/food writer/photographer Jennifer Meier. Included are over 100 mouth-watering recipes with easy-to-follow instructions and nearly 400 brilliant, glossy, full-color photographs to guide and inspire you to cooking and eating Primally.

Convenience: Save time with intuitive recipe steps, easy navigation, and great visual support. Find recipes quickly in the following categories: Meat, Offal, Fowl, Seafood, Vegetables, Eggs, Primal Substitutes, Marinades, Sauces and Dressings, Desserts, Beverages.

Effortless Weight Loss: As detailed in the Primal Blueprint, losing excess body fat is all about insulin. Regulate insulin production by eliminating grains and sugars and you will lose weight, even if you don't exercise much or are cursed with the "fat gene". Easier said than done, right? Well, the Primal Blueprint cookbook shows you how to transition from great American grain-based diet to a Primal diet featuring meat, seafood, fowl, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. All of these Primal recipes have a naturally low glycemic impact, keeping your insulin levels—and thus your waistline—in check.

No Pasta, No Bread, No Rice, No Beans, No Kidding!: As you build momentum for Primal eating, you'll find that you won't even miss the bland, boring, low-fat foods that previously were the central focus of your diet. How can you argue with a menu that includes Roasted Leg of Lamb with Herbs and Garlic, Salmon Chowder with Coconut Milk, Tomatoes Stuffed with Ground Bison and Eggs, and Baked Chocolate Custard? This isn’t a crash course diet. These and the other Primal recipes provide the foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating, high energy and protection from common health problems that arise from eating SAD (Standard American Diet).

Primal Nutrition, Inc. Hardcover
278 pages
List price: $29.99

The Wild Vegan Cookbook

2010-09-27T00:02:00.000-04:00

The Wild Vegan Cookbook: A Forager's Culinary Guide (in the Field or in the Supermarket) to Preparing and Savoring Wild (and Not So Wild) Natural Foods, by "Wildman" Steve Brill.

OK, who reading that immediately leapt to the thought that the book was published by Harvard Common Press? No, you didn't. Put your hand down.

Not that the publisher has anything to do with the University. It puts out cookbooks and parenting guides. Still.

Anyway, here's what it says about the Wildman:

Leading American foraging expert “Wildman” Steve Brill has been guiding foraging tours in and around New York City since 1982. He has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and Today, and has been profiled in numerous publications, including The New York Times.

Claire Hopley of the Amherst Bulletin has this to say about the huge book.

At 445 pages plus a lengthy section of tables and weights and measures, this book is quite a tome, and readers new to foraging will be amazed at how much there is out there that we can eat. OK we know about mushrooms and crab apples and wild blueberries; we know there are fiddleheads in the spring and blackberries in the fall. But who knew about Curly Dock and Wineberries? Who knew that daylily and cattail shoots were edible, or where to find wild cabbage or knotweed -- the latter described as "one of the premier wild foods of Spring?" Who knew that common spicebush berries taste like allspice?

This book is an encyclopedia of answers to these questions, and also a fascinating compendium of recipes. You don't actually have to go out and gather stuff from the wayside -- often you can buy or grow cultivated forms -- but this being the season for wild mushrooms, you may want to check out the many mushroom recipes.

Harvard Common Press trade paperback
528 pages
List price: $27.95

The book was originally published in hardcover as The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook.

Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook

2010-09-26T21:52:00.004-04:00

Claire Hopley in the Amherst Bulletin wrote about several new cookbooks that included a couple I thought I'd pass along.

One is Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook: A Seasonal, Vegetarian Cookbook, "by Shutesbury author and culinary teacher Leslie Cerier. ... [R]eaders will enthuse about a book that introduces an array of appetizing recipes that use grains that lack gluten: amaranth, buckwheat, corn, millet, oats, quinoa, rice, sorghum, teff, and wild rice."

Gluten-free is not the same as dairy-free, of course, but many people with celiac disease also develop lactose intolerance, so there is an overlap between our populations and usually an overlap in recipes.

Product Description
A gluten-free diet can help you feel more energetic, improve digestion, aid in weight loss, and dramatically improve the symptoms of many mental and physical health disorders. It's no wonder that more and more people, both with wheat allergies and without, are discovering the health benefits of going gluten-free. In Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook, Leslie Cerier, 'The Organic Gourmet,' presents over 100 remarkably delicious recipes for easy-to-make, gluten-free, vegetarian meals. You'll learn to create delectable, high-protein breakfasts, dinners, desserts, and more, use organic and seasonal ingredients to put a fresh twist on your favorite family recipes, and come up with your own original gluten-free creations.

• Whip up tasty grab-and-go meals and snacks
• Get tips for using organic and seasonal ingredients to make gluten-free food even more delicious
• Enjoy pancakes and waffles, casseroles, pastas, and pastries-all made without gluten
• Get creative with the wealth of recipe variations and ideas in this book

From the Publisher
'The Green Chef,' Leslie Cerier, presents Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook, a vegetarian cookbook filled with recipes for gluten-free, delicious meals the whole family can enjoy. The book includes tips on seasonal cooking, adapting family recipes to accommodate celiac disease, and incorporating wholesome organic ingredients for optimal nutrition.

New Harbinger Publications trade paperback
223 pages
List price: $17.95

Another False Milk Claim

2010-09-23T19:13:00.003-04:00

Another unique characteristic of Ronnybrook milk is that it's unhomogenized. Instead, the cream that naturally rises to the top of a glass jug of milk remains there, unless you decide to shake it up. The result, Osofsky explained, is milk that the body can more easily digest, especially for people who typically have trouble digesting lactose.

"We have a lot of families that drink our milk because they're lactose intolerant," he said.

The quote comes from an article by Jaclyn Bruntfield in the Harrison Patch.

The article is terrible for our purposes because Bruntfield never bothers to say whether the milk is "raw," i.e. unpasteurized, a claim that is often made - totally wrongly, in my estimation - for milk drinkable by those with lactose intolerance.

If possible, a claim that unhomogenized milk is safer for those with LI is even wronger.

Ignore it at your peril.

Living Without Magazine Catches National Buzz

2010-09-20T00:02:00.003-04:00

I've done a couple of mentions of Living Without magazine. It bills itself as the "magazine for people allergies and food sensitivities," which I assume is most of you reading this. Check out that link to their website for lots of recipes and other information.

The Washington Post has finally caught up to our world. A recent Health Scan column was about food allergies. A recent - but not the most recent - issue of Living Without got featured.

"Living Without," August/September issue

"Living Without," a magazine with a sad name, is for people with food allergies and sensitivities. The current issue features an interview with celebrity chef Ming Tsai, who owns the Boston-area restaurant Blue Ginger and serves as a national spokesman for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. When Tsai's 10-year-old son, David, was an infant, he tested positive for dairy, wheat, soy, egg, shellfish, nut and peanut allergies. "When your child has life-threatening food allergies, it's your number-one concern," Tsai says. "It affects everything." David's diagnosis made allergy awareness Tsai's calling, he says; Blue Ginger provides diners with detailed ingredient lists of every dish.

I don't understand why a national newspaper is so far behind the times. The new October/November issue is already out. If you want to take a look at its content, visit that page on their website. Some of the articles are only available to subscribers, but others, like the Spooky Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free Treats recipe are free to all.

Food Channel's Top 10 Snack Trends of 2010

2010-09-18T00:02:00.002-04:00

At the same moment in a food world that features larger and larger meals - I heard something about a pizza-sized hamburger that I'm trying my best to ignore - the trend toward "healthier" foods - or least foods that can be marketed as healthier - runs on a loud parallel track.

Will real people in the real world actually switch over to snack foods that are healthy? Oh, a few will, and always have, but the majority? Not if history is a guide.

But that's the trend of the year, or so says the Food Channel. The website of the National Association of Convenience Stores naturally has a huge vested interest in the subject. And that's where I found this report.

The Food Channel has posted its Top 10 Snack Trends of 2010, based on research conducted by channel in conjunction with CultureWaves, the International Food Futurists and Mintel International. Here are the trends shaping how Americans snack.

1. Chip and Dip. The desire for change has morphed into a new array of artisanal chip-and-dip choices, such as hummus and falafel chips.

2. Small and Sensational. “Grazing is the new snacking,” the Food Channel said.

3. The Drink Shift. This trend encompasses the bevy of beverages made with fruit or antioxidants. Drinks have shifted away from colas and energy drinks to teas, lemonades, fruity organic waters and carbonated fruit drinks.

4. Goin’ Nuts. Nuts have been paired with granola and fruits, as well as appearing solo as smoked and salted. With more emphasis on how good nuts are for you, more people are grabbing a handful for snacking.

5. Fruits: The Low Hanging Snack. Fruit is noshed on fresh, dried and freeze-dried. New types of fruits have become trendy, such as the Amazon açai fruit. Fresh fruit is now the number one snack among kids aged 2 to 17.

6. Cruising the Bars. Granola bars have come out in a wide variety, such as dairy-free, gluten-free, non-GMO, organic, soy-free, cholesterol-free, trans-fat-free, and casein-free.

7. Sweet and Salty. Recently, snacks have embraced the sweet and salty all in one bite.

8. Yogurt, Redefined. International flavors, such as Greek yogurt, and the added value of probiotics has made yogurt new and exciting as a snack.

9. Bodaciously Bold. The spicier, the better for some snacks. Bland is out and bold is definitely in.

10. Nostalgia’s New Again. Old standbys like Snack Cakes, Hostess Twinkie, Ding Dongs, TastyKake, and Little Debbies have found new life these days.

Notice that dairy-free granola bars and lower-lactose Greek yogurt are on the list. That's about all the support we get. Well, that and fruits. Fruit is dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, and have all sorts of natural nutrients that as yet can't be found in pill form.

Fruit. The original snack food.

Top 50 Allergy Blogs. Guess Who's Number Five

2010-09-16T00:02:00.004-04:00

What's the banner line under my title? "The latest news on avoiding dairy products if you are lactose intolerant, have milk allergies, are a vegan, or want to keep kosher."

I mean that. I don't concentrate on allergies specifically, but I try to provide as much information as I can gather specifically on dairy allergies and generally on food allergies that have info for those who want to avoid dairy.

That's why it was such a pleasant surprise to named one of the 50 Best Food Allergy Blogs by Nursing Schools.net.

Here's what they had to say, and the listing of their first five.

The following blogs, listed in no particular order, have lent their voices to the community at large as a means of shedding light on the undeniably challenging trials they must face. With deeply personal stories, recipes, research and commentary, they take to the web and find ways to quell the suffering of those for whom gluten/wheat, dairy, eggs, corn, soy, seafood, tree nuts, peanuts and much more may mean anything from short-term illness to death. Their perseverance, strength and sociopolitical efforts ought not go ignored or brushed aside.

However, please do not take the statements here as medical fact. What works in one patient may not necessarily prove worthwhile for another's needs. Nothing replaces expert consultation with a medical professional the blogs here merely provide support and suggestions.

1. The Food Allergy Queen

Kishari Sing loves food, even working as a caterer for a while. Unfortunately, she also suffers from a number of different allergies including rice, soy, tomatoes, garlic, wheat, tree nuts and much more. But she has applied her creativity and culinary experience to creating excellent recipes for others in her situation, and The Food Allergy Queen is essential reading because of it.

2. Food Allergy Assistant

Food Allergy Assistant provides detailed information on life with various food allergies, with plenty of resources available on support groups, coaches, recipes and more.

3. Please Don't Pass the Nuts

A social worker who both suffers from and works with food allergies keeps an absolutely essential blog about maneuvering through life saddled with such conditions. Anyone with any sort of food-related allergy or asthma needs to bookmark or subscribe immediately.

4. Allergy Moms

Parents of children with strict food allergies band together to exchange ideas, information and recipes to keep them as safe and healthy as possible. Be sure to check out the rest of the website as well!

5. Planet Lactose

Planet Lactose Publishing specializes in dairy-free, kosher and vegan cookbooks for anyone with staunch dietary restrictions. They keep a great blog to inform readers of their latest offerings.

If you're coming here from that blog and reading me for the first time, let me stress that I do much more than point you to the new cookbooks that you might want to check out. I list new dairy-free and lactose-free foods, report on clinical testing and new allergy symptom relief testing, correct mistakes made by overenthusiastic or overcredulous websites, and generally keep my eye open for anything and everything that you need to know.

I am an information provider. I don't review or do tastings or create recipes. Those other blogs on the list do a great job of that, I'm sure. My role is unique. I make sure that you get correct, up-to-date, factual treatments of critical issues. I'm not kind to those who don't live up to those standards. I've been writing about lactose intolerance and related issues for a quarter century, so I have a huge depth of experience to draw on.

I also have a website, Steve Carper's Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse. I've pretty much stopped updating it since it was so much easier to post new information here in blog form. Even so, there are over 100 pages of information on it, and much of it is still as good as the day I started the site in the ancient era of 1997. Most of it's a lot newer, of course. You'll find many pages on books and dairy-free products there that can't be found in a single place elsewhere.

Want more? There's my gigantic book of earlier blog postings, revised and updated and sorted into convenient categories, at Planet Lactose Publishing.

And please stop back here again. I'll have something new and delightfully interesting for you to read.

Lactose-Free Milk in Denmark

2010-09-15T00:02:00.001-04:00

Dairy Markets has a short squib up on its site that should be good news for my Danish readers.

Arla Foods has launched a lactose-free milk in Denmark, the first in a new line of lactose-free dairy products.

Official estimates suggest that between 3% and 6% of Danes suffer from lactose intolerance. But the product will also be aimed at those who think they have a problem and have therefore opted for non-dairy alternatives.

Arla is the huge UK manufacturer of Lactofree milk.

I can't find any additional information on this new Danish product. But let's face it. When you market a product who think they need it but don't really, the state of information about lactose intolerance is beyond nuts into surreal.

Lacidofil May Help Milk Allergy Symptoms

2010-09-14T00:02:00.002-04:00

I try to be very skeptical of claims of allergy symptom relief from commercial products. Very few of them involve serious clinical testing of the product. When I see a favorable test, therefore, I have to pay attention. The makers of Lacidofil, a probiotic, put the product to a trial of real children with atopic dermatitis (AD) from milk allergy and it appears to have worked better than a topical cream.

The report of the conference paper can be found at NutraIngredients.com.

Researchers on a new study by Institut Rosell-Lallemand have reported that its Lacidofil probiotic supplement may reduce the severity of atopic dermatitis (AD) in children when used with a topical emollient, and increase antibodies against cow’s milk allergen IgG4. ...

The company set out to test its probiotic Lacidofil in young children with AD and cow’s milk allergy. The results of the study, led by Dr Chernyshov of Ukraine’s Medical University, were presented at the Joint International Symposium New Trends in Allergy VII and the 6th Rajka Symposium on Atopic Dermatitis in Munich last month.

The company says the study involved 58 children under the age of four years. All the children were treated with emollient cream and a bath preparation, while 30 also received one Lacidofil capsule a day for a month. The other 18 received a placebo.

The Lacidofil capsule contains a combination of Lactobacillus Rosell-11 and Lactobacillus Rosell-52 strains, and about 2 billion probiotic bacteria in total.

Dr Chernyshov used the SCORAD index to assess severity of AD, and also measured immunological parametres at day 0 and day 30.

Sixty three per cent of the children taking the probiotics were seen to have a marked reduction in AD severity, compared to 32.1 per cent of those in the placebo group.

Not only did those taking the probiotic tend to use less steroid cream, but those who used none at all also saw a reduction in AD severity.

A significant decrease of T-cells potentially associated with AD was observed, as well as an increase in IgG4, a subtype of antibodies directed against cow milk allergen and considered a marker for immune tolerance.

"Emollients and probiotics have different modes of action and could be combined with each other and with other medications in AD patients. Solutions with potential steroid-sparing effect in AD patients are extremely important," the company quotes the researchers as saying.

Lactofil is made by Xymogen.

New UK Dairy-Free Chocolates

2010-09-13T00:02:00.004-04:00

Just yesterday I posted about the Barry Callebaut chocolate site and today I have an announcement about a new dairy-free chocolate that the firm is making. Coincidence? I think not.

The press release can be found at the Food Ingredients First site.

Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products, says it brought the world’s first 100% dairy free alternative to milk chocolate to the market to add to the increasingly popular “Freefrom” food category. Due to the increased awareness of allergies and food intolerances on the one hand and continuous improvements in taste and quality of “Free-from” products on the other, the market grew strongly over the recent years. In 2010, the world market will grow 8.1%, according to Euromonitor. And the growth is expected to continue: from +9.4% (2011) up to +21.5% (2014).

The newly formulated guaranteed 100% dairy free alternative developed by Barry Callebaut offers the same color and smooth taste of milk chocolate, yet without any milk ingredients. This is extremely important for adults and children suffering from milk allergy. In addition, this innovation is a valuable alternative for those being lactose intolerant as well as for the increasing number of people excluding dairy or dairy ingredients like lactose from their diet out of personal belief or because of following specific lifestyle choices such as vegans or vegetarians.

With Celtic Chocolates, one of Ireland’s leading chocolatiers and long-term provider of gourmet chocolate for people with allergies and food intolerances, Barry Callebaut found an ideal partner to further develop and bring the 100% dairy free alternative to milk chocolate into the market.

Check out Celtic Chocolates for more information.

Celtic Chocolates Limited
Summerhill
Co Meath
Tel: +353 (0) 4695 57077
Fax: + 353 (0) 4695 57591
E mail: info@celticchocolates.eu

Chocophilia

2010-09-12T11:20:00.002-04:00

Barry Callebaut claims to be the "world’s leading supplier of high-quality cocoa and chocolate product." That's quite a claim. Europeans know the company through its personal brands - Sarotti in Germany, Jacques in Belgium, and Alprose in Switzerland - but it has partnerships with chocolate companies all over the world. And it has chocolate museums in Belgium and Switzerland. Now that's dedication.

If you've wanted to learn more about chocolate, from its history, to manufacturing, to the many health claims being put forward today for chocolate, click over to the site's Chocophilia section.

There's also a large page of chocolate recipes. Most use at least butter if not other dairy products, so you will have to experiment with substitutes if you try them.

Free eCookbook from Alisa Fleming

2010-09-08T22:05:00.002-04:00

Alisa Fleming, of the massive site GoDairyFree.org, also runs the One Frugal Foodie blog.

Back in 2008 she put out Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook for Milk Allergies, Lactose Intolerance, and Casein-Free Living so it's obviously time for a new cookbook to emerge.

And so it has. Every better, this one's free.

Smart School Time Recipes: The Breakfast, Snack, and Lunchbox Cookbook for Healthy Kids and Adults is being offered as a free ebook download.

Wait, two years? Somehow she did it in two weeks. I need to find a new business.

It’s hard to believe that just two weeks ago I set out on this mission, and here I am with a completed 173-page eCookbook with 125 recipes and over 100 photos from dozens of incredible health bloggers and cookbook authors (thank you to every single one of you!). We also had a special time donation from a wonderful graphic designer; Emily of The Blog Fairy designed the cover image (she also designed this blog!) …

The chapters include:

•Morning Muffin Mania
•Sensational Smoothies
•Easy Freezin’ Waffles, Pancakes, and French Toast
•More Smart Starts
•Dips, Fillings, and Spreads
•Soups and Stews
•Salad-Style
•More Lunchbox Love
•Sweet Snackin’
•Craving Cookies
•Essential Extras

Living Dairy-Free For Dummies

2010-09-07T00:02:00.000-04:00

Being published today is Living Dairy-Free For Dummies, by Suzanne Havala Hobbs.

Suzanne Havala Hobbs, DrPH, MS, RD, is a renowned writer on food, nutrition, and dietary guidance policy. A vegetarian for more than 35 years, she has been largely dairy-free for 25 years. She is based at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she directs the Doctoral Program in Health Leadership.

Ah, credentials. I like credentials.

Product Description
Whatever the reason for not eating dairy, Living Dairy-Free For Dummies provides readers with the most up-to-date information on a dairy-free diet and lifestyle and will empower them to thrive without dairy while still getting the calcium, vitamin D and nutritional benefits commonly associated with dairy products.
Living Dairy-Free For Dummies:

▪ Is a lifestyle manual, going beyond just recipes to present a full nutritional evaluation of what dairy-free life is like
▪ Contains more than 50 dairy-free recipes, along with how to set up a dairy-free kitchen and tips for eating out and remaining dairy-free
▪ Presents alternatives to dairy so readers can continue getting the nutritional value and tastes of dairy, without the side effects

From the Back Cover
The easy way to live and thrive with a dairy-free lifestyle
Are you looking to eliminate dairy from your diet due to lactose intolerance, health reasons, diet restrictions, or personal choice? Whatever your reason, this hands-on, friendly guide gives you the most up-to-date information on how a dairy-free diet and lifestyle can empower you to thrive while still getting the calcium, vitamin D, and nutrients you need.

▪ Make the switch — find out the many benefits of restricting dairy from your diet, get a grip on nutritional issues, and discover how to smoothly make the transition
▪ Set up shop — get practical tips on setting up a dairy-free kitchen and discover the nondairy staples and equipment you need to get started
▪ Get cooking — start making more than 60 easy and delicious dairy-free dishes for every meal of the day (including dips, dressings, and tasty munchies)
▪ Live, love, eat — discover how to enjoy a dairy-free lifestyle while away from home and during pregnancy, infancy, through adulthood, and to your senior years

Open the book and find:

▪ Top ten reasons to ditch dairy
▪ Hidden sources of dairy (and how to find them on food labels)
▪ The best-tasting nondairy alternatives
▪ Dairy-free recipes the whole family will enjoy
▪ Dairy-free ingredients and cooking tips and techniques
▪ Helpful advice for eating at restaurants and on the go
▪ Tips for dealing with picky eaters
▪ How to eat for bone health at every age

Learn to:

▪ Manage lactose intolerance by safely eliminating dairy from your diet
▪ Thrive without dairy while still getting the calcium, vitamin D, and nutrients you need
▪ Prepare more than 60 delicious dairy-free recipes
▪ Discover dairy-free substitutions

For Dummies trade paperback
360 pages
List price: $19.99

The Kosher Baker Cookbook

2010-09-05T23:21:00.006-04:00

The Kosher Baker: Over 160 Dairy-free Recipes from Traditional to Trendy, Paula Shoyer, has been getting lots of press attention. Stacy Finz wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle that:

Shoyer, the owner of Paula's Parisian Pastries Cooking School in the Washington D.C., area, spends more than 300 pages modernizing Jewish classics such as babka, honey cake and hamentaschen and creating kosher versions of today's trendiest desserts - favorites like red velvet cupcakes. She even gives instruction on how to make French pastries sans the butter.

Product Description
Producing flavorful and appealing kosher desserts has been a challenge in Jewish households throughout the ages. Without access to butter, cream, milk, cheese, yogurt, or other dairy products, creating a tasty and memorable dessert for family and friends requires more than simple substitutions and compromises. Now pastry chef and teacher Paula Shoyer provides the inspiration and innovation to turn the age-old challenges of parve baking into delectable delights in her one-of-a-kind kosher cookbook.

The Kosher Baker is your indispensable kitchen companion to a wide range of dairy-free desserts, from family favorites and time-honored holiday classics to stylish and delicious surprises of Shoyer's own careful creation. It even includes desserts not usually found on a kosher table, such as creamy key lime pie, luscious flan, and rich tiramisu. You'll find everything from cookies, biscotti, breads and muffins to pastries, tarts, fancy cakes, and mousses. Shoyer guides you through more than 160 mouth-watering recipes and expands every non-dairy baker's repertoire with simple, clear instructions and a friendly yet authoritative voice.

The Kosher Baker is organized as a tutorial into three primary sections--Quick and Elegant Desserts, Two Step Desserts, and Multiple Step Desserts--allowing the busy home baker to choose a dessert based on both taste and time constraints. The first section presents the fundamentals of simple kosher baking in the form of everyday treats like Amaretto Cookies, Orange Tea Cake, and Apple Pastry. The next two sections teach increasingly more challenging desserts, from a Challah Beer Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce to Chocolate Babka. A special fourth section includes chapters on baking Challah, Passover desserts, and no-sugar-added desserts.

The Kosher Baker has something for everyone in the Jewish household for any occasion or holiday. It spills over with detailed information, including tips on storage, freezing, and thawing; tools; must-have ingredients; and tips and techniques. Anyone baking for those with special dietary needs such as food allergies or diabetic concerns will also find recipes to love in this comprehensive collection. It even includes recipes for nut- and gluten-free desserts, and vegan desserts.

No Jewish home should be without this essential cookbook!

List price: $35.00
348 pages
Brandeis University Press/University Press of New England, 2010

Wait, what? A cookbook published by a university press? That's weird... No wonder it's getting more press attention than usual.

You can also watch Shoyer sharing her recipe for quick, kosher fruit tarts on a video from a Washington local news program.

The 30-Minute Vegan’s Taste of the East Cookbook

2010-09-02T19:25:00.005-04:00

The 30 Minute Vegan is the line of cookbooks by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray. Reinfeld is the proprietor of the Blossoming Lotus restaurant and the author of other vegan cookbooks promoting vegan fusion cuisine. Murray is his wife. You can see their site at Vegan Fusion World Cuisine.

The newest cookbook from the busy guy is The 30-Minute Vegan’s Taste of the East: 150 Asian-Inspired Recipes—from Soba Noodles to Summer Rolls.

Product Description
After dazzling foodies and food critics alike with their fun, easy, and delicious recipes in the The 30-Minute Vegan, award-winning chefs Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray have turned their skillets to the East.

The 30-Minute Vegan’s Taste of the East offers irresistible dishes from all over Asia—from India, Thailand, and China to Indonesia, Nepal, and Japan—virtually all doable in 30 minutes or less.

Complete with at-a-glance cooking charts, key Asian pantry ingredients, all-new preparation techniques, and unique cooking tips, Taste of the East is a must-have addition to your cookbook shelf.

Expanding your animal-free palate has never been easier, quicker, or more exciting.

• 16 pages of color photographs

Authors Bios
Mark Reinfeld is the founding chef of the celebrated Blossoming Lotus Restaurant. His Vegan Fusion World Cuisine has won nine international awards, including a Gourmand Award for "Best Vegetarian Cookbook in the USA."

Jennifer Murray is the coauthor of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw. She teaches vegan cooking classes internationally.

Reinfeld and Murray live in Kaua’i, Hawaii.

Here's the info on their earlier book, The 30 Minute Vegan: Over 175 Quick, Delicious, and Healthy Recipes for Everyday Cooking

Busy vegans, rejoice! award-winning husband and wife chefs/authors Reinfeld and Murray present 175 delicious, easy-to prepare recipes for everyday vegan cooking—all dishes that can be prepared in a half-hour.

Sections include:

The Lighter Side of Life:

Smoothies & Satiating Beverages;

Snacks, Pick Me Ups & Kids’ Favorites;

Lunches: Wraps, Rolls, Bowls, and More;

Extraordinary Salads;

Sumptuous Soups;

Small Plates: Appetizers, Side Dishes, Light Dinners;

Wholesome Suppers;

Guilt-Free Comfort Food: Healthy Translations of Old Stand-bys;

and Divine Desserts.

The 30-Minute Vegan also provides at-a-glance cooking charts, kids’ favorite dishes, and exciting menu suggestions for every occasion—making this an essential cookbook for busy vegans who want to enjoy delicious, healthful, whole-foods vegan fare every day.

• 8 pages of color photographs

Another Article Scam

2010-08-31T21:18:00.002-04:00

You - yes, you - can be paid for what you know! Even for stuff you don't know! It's easy! Just write an article for us! On anything! Anything at all! Then watch the money roll in!

When I put it that way, it's obviously a scam, a snare, a trap for the delusional and desperate. Yet it works. Probably for the same reason that you keep getting spam in your in-box that is so poorly done that you wonder who could possibly be stupid enough to fall for it. Somebody does. (I saw an article that estimated that 8 people out of every million respond to spam.)

Article scammers continue to function because everybody thinks they know something. Even when they don't.

Take Lonad, which stands for Lon's Article Directory. There's a name that screams quality. This is what Lon advertises:

Lonad Now Offers Article Writing Services
400-500 word articles for $20.00
Ivy League author educated at the Masters level. SEO optimized.

You can be sure that articles from Lonad are unique and of the highest quality. Simply email us today we’ll get started on any subject you may like.[sic]

This is the reality which you get.

Do not bother if you are suffering from a bloated stomach. Others too are facing the same problem. Bloated stomach is not a disease, but just a nuisance. Before treating this nuisance, understand what causes it. This will aid them to avert it from occurring again. One of the main reasons behind bloated stomach is poor indigestion....

[A] number of other symptoms indicate that one is anguishing from a bloated stomach and body swelling is one of them. However, bad food habits are the basic reason for bloated stomach and if one is able to mend it, they shall no longer suffer....

Remove buffalo milk from your diet The reason behind it is that this type of milk contains a low amount of lactose, a substance that facilitates digestion of milk.

Other than reading as if put through a bad internet translator, the article is no more than a shill for a website selling hugely expensive digestive aids.

Times are tough for almost everyone. People will try to take advantage of you when you're down. Don't fall for it.

Lactaid's New Lactose-Free Half-and-Half

2010-08-30T22:12:00.004-04:00

Some true dairy products just can't be found in lactose-free form. Lactose-free dry milk powder is one. Lactose-free half-and-half used to be another.

Here comes the breaking news. Lactaid has just introduced a true dairy lactose-free half-and-half supermarket product. "LACTAID® Half & Half is the first lactose-free half & half made from 100% farm-fresh milk and cream, so you can enjoy the rich smoothness of real half & half in your coffee or tea."

What's the bad news? For now they are only available in New England and Upstate New York. Why? Other than how special and wonderful and deserving we are here in Upstate New York, I don't know.

The rest of you can start bugging your supermarket managers to get the product in as soon as it becomes available. Check Lactaid's half-and-half page for details.

Want more hot scoop?

There's also the new "LACTAID® Plastic Single Serve Milk [that]
is delicious 100% lactose-free milk with all of the vitamins and minerals of real milk in a handy, 12-ounce bottle." Available at universities and convenience stores.

Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free

2010-08-26T00:02:00.002-04:00

Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes for Easy Delicious Meals,
by Silvana Nardone.

Silvana Nardone is the founding Editor in Chief of Every Day with Rachael Ray, where she has been honored with the magazine industry's top awards since its launch in 2005. She is the magazine's "No-Recipe Zone" and "Sweet Spot" columnist. A writer, editor, cooking instructor, and food consultant, she is the coauthor of Saveur Cooks Authentic Italian. She was profiled by Big Apple Parent and About.com for her focus on gluten-free and dairy- free cooking. Silvana owned an Italian bakery, Fanciulla, when Rachael Ray hired her to launch her magazine. Visit her blog at DishTowelDiaries.com.

Product Description
"The cornbread was flavorful, moist and light with a deliciously tender crumb. My only hope with this recipe was that Isaiah would love it... And then Isaiah took a bite. The look on his face was pure heaven."

Cooking for Isaiah is a love story of Silvana Nardone's journey to develop great-tasting meals for her son, Isaiah, after he was diagnosed with food intolerances to gluten and dairy. The results of her efforts are found in the pages of this book, through 135 recipes that are not only easy to make, but taste and look delicious.

From "S'mores Pancakes with Marshmallow Sauce" to "Double-Decker Toasted Cornbread and Spicy Greens Stack," and "Chicken and Waffles with Maple Bacon Gravy" to "Chocolate Birthday Cake with Whipped Chocolate Frosting," all of the recipes in Cooking for Isaiah are entirely free of gluten and dairy. Crafted with a variety of cooks in mind, an ingredient substitution chart shows you what to swap if, for example, you need to cook without gluten, but dairy is okay. You'll also find Silvana's tried-and-tested all-purpose flour and pancake mix recipes, sure to make gluten-free cooking and baking accessible to all. Written by Silvana Nardone, Editor in Chief of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine, this charming, personal cookbook belongs on every cook's shelf.

Readers Digest hardcover
224 pages
List price: $24.95

Boost Energy Drink: Lactose-Free But Not Casein-Free

2010-08-25T00:02:00.002-04:00

I found this article - which is as close to a press release as I've ever seen; let's not pretend this is real journalism - that touts the wonderful benefits of Boost nutritional energy drink.

What caught my attention was the claim that Boost is lactose-free.

People who are at risk for osteoporosis or bone loss include older adults, non-ambulatory people who have difficulty exercising, post-menopausal women, and people who are on chronic steroid therapy for medical conditions. Older adults who are lactose-intolerant or allergic to milk are also at risk for calcium deficiency. Now, BOOST® comes with CalciLock® to help maintain bone health. Each BOOST® drink contains just as much calcium as an 8-ounce glass of milk, but it’s lactose-free.

OK, sounds good. I check everything, especially press releases. That's my mission. So I went to the Boost website to search for ingredients.

Water, corn syrup solids, sugar, vegetable oil, (canola, high oleic sunflower, corn oils) milk protein concentrate, calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, and less than 0.5% of potassium citrate, magnesium chloride, soy lecithin, calcium phosphate, salt, ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate, beta-carotene, biotin, niacinamide, calcium pantothenate, vitamin B12, vitamin B6 hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamine, hydrochloride, folic acid, potassium iodide, magnesium phosphate, natural and artificial flavor, choline chloride, vitamin E acetate, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3, vitamin K1, carrageenan, potassium chloride, zinc sulfate, manganese sulfate, cupric sulfate, chromic chloride, sodium molybdate, sodium selenite, ferrous sulfate. Contains milk protein and soy.

Contains milk protein. So people with milk protein allergies, beware.

Grana Padano Lactose-Free Cheese

2010-08-24T19:34:00.002-04:00

The process of aging cheese drives the lactose out. Aged cheeses are mostly or even entirely lactose-free, and the longer a cheese is aged the lower lactose it is.

This is true for all aged cheeses, but only a few manufacturers are smart enough to make it a selling point. I'm happy to give recognition to one who make a big deal of it.

That cheese is Grana Padano.

Grana Padano has been an integral part of Italy's gastronomic tradition for almost 1,000 years. Now, more and more American consumers know that 'Grana' refers to the grainy, crumbly texture of the cheese and 'Padano' refers to its area of origin in the Po River Valley of Northern Italy. This cow's milk cheese is produced in Lombardia, Emilia Romagna (only the province of Piazenza), Veneto, Piemonte and Trentino (only the province of Trento) and is strictly linked to the areas and territories in which it is made.

This deep straw yellow colored cheese, when mature, has a sweet, nutty flavored taste that can be grated over pasta or shaved on carpaccio or salad while never overpowering other ingredients and flavors in a dish. Aged from nine months to 24 and up, Grana Padano pairs well with a variety of cuisines and makes an ideal part of a healthy diet.

"Low in fat compared to other cheeses, Grana Padano serves as an excellent source of protein and calcium, and is lactose-free," said Elisabetta Serraiotto, who is responsible for Marketing and Communications at the Grana Padano Consortium. "Easy to digest, it's not only perfect for active people, but it is also a great addition to the diet of children, elderly and pregnant women. Moreover, Grana Padano can be served in many different ways, even as part of a light, healthy summer meal."

What is Grana Padano cheese like?

About Grana Padano—www.granapadano.com

Grana Padano has been part of Italy's gastronomic tradition and culture since 1135 when it was created by the monks in the Po River Valley in Northern Italy. Based in Desenzano del Garda in the province of Brescia, the Consortium for the Protection of Grana Padano cheese was founded in 1954 by a group of businessmen who shared one common goal—to produce a top-quality cheese based on the traditional recipe. Today this company encompasses more than 200 Grana Padano producers, maturers and retailers. "Grana" refers the grainy and crumby texture of the cheese and "Padano" refers to its origin on the Po River Valley in Northern Italy. Grana Padano is a registered trademark around the world, and since 1996 is a D.O.P Denominazione di Origine Protetta (P.D.O. in English) cheese awarded by the European Community in Brussels.

Grana Padano cheese can be matured for anything from 9 to over 24 months. This variance in maturity leads to dramatic differences in the flavor and texture of the cheese.

Tofurky Pizza with Daiya "Cheese"

2010-08-21T21:50:00.002-04:00

Hokey smoke, Rock, it's Daiya week here at Planet Lactose.

Yesterday, I posted Daiya Expands Its Vegan "Cheese" Alternative Availability. But that's just the beginning of the big Daiya news.

Tofurky is starting a line of pizzas made with Daiya vegan cheese alternative.

Tofurky® Pizza

Tofurky brought vegetarians back to the Thanksgiving table by providing a high protein, cholesterol free option to people who had been left out of the celebration. Today we continue that mission by offering delicious, nutritious vegan pizzas in three bold flavors: Cheese, Pepperoni and Italian Sausage with Fire Roasted Veggies. You might say our goal is: "No pizza eater left behind!"

Ingredients: Ingredients: Crust: Whole wheat flour,
enriched wheat flour (niacin, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid), potato flour, water, expeller pressed non-GMO canola oil, yeast, organic sugar, salt, malt (malted barley, wheat flour, dextrose). Sauce: Water, tomato paste, garlic, expeller pressed non-GMO canola oil, salt, oregano, basil.

Tofurky Italian Sausage: Organic tofu (water, organic soybeans, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride), vital wheat gluten, expeller pressed non-genetically modified canola oil, water, shoyu soy sauce (water, non-genetically engineered soybeans, wheat, salt, culture), sun dried tomatoes, textured wheat protein, basil, black pepper, spices, granulated garlic, salt, chili pepper. Fire Roasted Veggies: Zucchini, tomatoes, red onion, red bell peppers, poblano peppers, green bell peppers, olive oil.

Vegan Cheese: Filtered water, tapioca and/or arrowroot flour, non-GMO expeller pressed canola oil and/or non-GMO expeller pressed safflower oil, coconut oil, pea protein, salt, vegan natural flavors, inactive yeast, vegetable glycerin, calcium citrate, xanthan gum, citric acid (for flavor), annatto.

Contains: Soy and wheat.

I found a review from a Hollywood socialite with Ph.D..

My verdict: Not bad! The whole wheat crust tasted especially impressive for a frozen pizza — a perfect crispiness after 12 minutes in the oven — and the sweetener-free tomato sauce had a nice natural flavor.

The toppings were just okay — though faux meat lovers will likely have a more enthusiastic response. The somewhat synthetic tastes of fake cheeses and meats seems to rankle me more than others. I appreciate how Daiya cheese melts unlike most faux cheeses, but the stuff always tastes vaguely soapy to me. And while I do enjoy Tofurky on occasion, the sausage on the pizza dried out too much in the oven heat, ending up little, light dehydrated squares atop the otherwise well-cooked pizza.

Daiya Expands Its Vegan "Cheese" Alternative Availability

2010-08-21T21:31:00.005-04:00

I posted about the introduction of Daiya vegan "cheese" almost a year ago. I said, "It's big distinction is that instead of soy or rice or the usual bases, Daiya uses tapioca* and/or arrowroot flours."

The vegan cheese world can't sit still for long. Daiya, a Canadian product, is finally busting out all over. All over Canada, at least. Naturally, there's a press release.

Daiya Foods has been called "the holy grail of vegan cheese". naturalnews.com says "Daiya is one brand that stands out from the rest. Based on its excellent taste, texture, and ingredients, Daiya truly is a delicious and healthy vegan product."

Daiya Foods originated in Vancouver, BC. The Naam restaurant on W. 4th Ave was one of their first customers and Canadian consumers have been asking for the last year when they can buy the product in Canada. The day is on the horizon, the labeling issues holding Daiya Foods back have been overcome, and the packages are at the printers! We will start shipping to distributors Oct 1st, and you will see the product in stores by the end of the month!

Over the last year the only way to purchase Daiya products in Canada was to order 5lb foodservice packages from online retailers like Karmavore or Viva Granola; many supportive Canadian consumers waited patiently for their shipment of Daiya style shreds to arrive at their front door. Now everyone will find the retail packages exploding onto shelves in early fall, plus the foodservice and prepared foods sections in markets will be ramping up over the next 4 weeks.

Enjoy Daiya products on your pizza, nachos, and comforting macaroni. Daiya products are a healthy choice that offers all of the taste, melt, and stretch without the guilt! It's a perfect option for any diet need, whether you have a common food allergy, are lactose intolerant or vegan, or your [sic] just watching cholesterol and trans fat intake!

Positive feedback is already coming in from the foodservice market; Boon's Burger Café in Manitoba says "Thanks Daiya, we’ve got new customers coming in the door… just because we are carrying your "cheese"! With a powerful, fast moving national launch in the US Whole Foods and the continued trends in vegetarian and health eating, Daiya Foods expects the same excitement in Canada. Check back often to see where you can purchase or enjoy Daiya products at www.daiyafoods.com/where/index.aspx.

Product information: Daiya products are a revolutionary new dairy-free vegan option that tastes, shreds, melts, and stretches perfectly for any of your favorite recipes. Daiya is free of many of the common allergens including; dairy (casein and lactose), soy, gluten, egg, peanuts and tree nuts (excluding coconuts). Daiya is also free of animal products, cholesterol, trans fats, and preservatives. To find out more visit www.daiyafoods.com.

To spare you, I edited the release to create paragraphs and I added some proper punctuation. I complain all the time about how badly written press releases are, but this one is close to the bottom.

Hi, Daiya! I'm available!

*UPDATE: That used to say cassava flour, but the ingredients lists now [11/27/11] read tapioca flour instead.

Cooking Lactose-Free Blog

2010-08-19T00:01:00.002-04:00

I told you a couple of years ago that Mandy Kocevar and Monika B. Pis had teamed up to produce a cookbook, Lactose Free and Loving It: Learn to Enjoy Dairy Again!

They've used the book as a springboard to a whole blog experience, Cooking Lactose-Free: Home of the Lactose-Free and Loving It Cookbook. You're coming right in at the start.

They alternate recipes like Super Simple Hummus, Sun Dried Tomato Scramble, Beet and Feta Mixed Green Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette, and Pecan Encrusted Tilapia with Remoulade Sauce, with simple general information piece on lactose intolerance. Not all the recipes are repeats from the book, so you can stop over there and find dishes that are brand new.

Tofutti to Announce Three Innovative Products

2010-08-18T23:36:00.002-04:00

Tofutti sent out a bit of a downbeat press release, revealing that they lost gross and net revenue since last year at this time.

The good news is that they are expanding their product line into firsts, not just for them, but for the industry.

As announced at our annual meeting in June, we have developed three new dairy-free food products. We will soon release the first commercially available nondairy and gluten-free ricotta cheese product, which is expected to reach grocers' shelves in the fourth quarter of this year. We also intend to release what we believe will be the first dairy-free, sugar-free, frozen dessert than incorporates Stevia as the sweetening agent and a newly re-formulated frozen pizza with a dairy-free, trans fat-free cheese topping. We expect that the latter two products will be commercially available around the new year."

Go to Tofutti.com for more information on all their current products.

Korean Cheese Pizza Dance Goes Viral

2010-08-13T00:02:00.001-04:00

I've been writing for years that dairy products were finding a new home in Asia, traditionally a series of cultures that avoided using milk in their cuisines. The same genetics are involved that make America a dairy culture. Many people with mild lactose intolerance can have some dairy without symptoms.

Even back when I wrote Milk Is Not for Every Body I mentioned that Pizza Hut was putting up cheese factories in Thailand to meet a growing demand. Now Asia is poised to take over the world with their catchy pizza commercials. Let's see. Cute young girls, lots of bare leg, robotic dancing with instructions, and backwards pizza eating. Don Draper would eat his fedora to have done this.

Just so you know, Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pizza has 350 calories and 13 grams of fat per slice without any toppings. So if you want to look anything like the girls in the commercials, stop at one slice.

Dairy-Free Chocolate Protein Pudding

2010-08-12T00:02:00.002-04:00

I'm a copyright fanatic. Most people don't understand copyright and think that either everything can be freely reprinted or that nothing can be. It's really somewhere in the middle because of a concept called "fair use." Fair use is not defined precisely anywhere in the copyright law, which is why it causes so many problems.

The way I interpret it is that short excepts of articles can be reprinted to make a point, images that were intended to be advertisements of themselves - like book covers or food packages - can be freely used, material put under a Creative Commons license - like anything at Wikipedia - can be reused in its entirety if attribution is given, and press releases are inherently designed to be spread widely.

That's why I don't normally reprint recipes. You can't copyright a list of ingredients or basic instructions but you certainly can copyright expression. Therefore you can rewrite a recipe in your own words but you can't simply copy somebody else's words.

Unless it's been put out in a press release for everyone to use.

And I found one that seems useful for you.

Here's the press release:

Even when you're watching what you eat, you don't have to give up chocolate or dessert! Columbus-based fitness and nutrition trainer Jason Yun offers up a healthy and easy recipe for a delicious protein-filled dessert. You can fix it in your blender or food processor in a matter of minutes to enjoy an indulgent snack you don't have to feel guilty about.

Dairy-Free Chocolate Protein Pudding

Ingredients:
1 avocado
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)
A dash of cinnamon
A pinch of Sea salt
3-4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 banana
2 tbsp almond or coconut milk
1 scoop whey protein

Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit and the peel. Place it in the blender or food processor along with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth. Makes 2-3 servings.

To watch Jason Yun make this dessert, visit Yun Training's YouTube channel. The video can be found at this link.

Enjoy a delicious, healthy dessert, and remember to let your nutrition work for you!

Jason Yun is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Sports Nutritionist. He owns Yun Strength and Fitness Systems, LLC, and runs Yun Fitness Boot Camps in Columbus, Ohio.

I am the owner of Yun Strength and Fitness Systems, LLC. I Instruct Fitness Boot Camps for teens and adults in the Greater Columbus, Ohio area. I also teach the 12-week Metabolism Makeover Course. I am a body transformation expert who has helped many people reach their body and health goals. To learn more about me and to pick up a copy of your FREE Fat Loss Starter Kit, please visit the websites:
http://www.Yunbootcamps.com
http://www.YunNutrition.com/home.html

If you're wondering that I'm mentioning a recipe with whey protein, remember that many whey protein powders (and drink) are lactose-free. If you still have qualms then substitute soy protein powder.

Foods Bloat - and Not Just Dairy

2010-08-11T21:01:00.002-04:00

A fitness columnist on the Chicago Now blogs reminds us that plenty of foods can cause bloating besides just dairy. That's a good thing to remember when you look at your diet and try to determine what's causing the problems.

What are some of the typical bloaters out there in the food world?

Grease! It's quite obvious, really. Greasy burgers, fries, pizza, tots, and anything else that fits into the category of "bar food" is probably going to make you bloat. Not only that, but it's going to cause a war on your digestive track. ...

Fizzy beverages. This includes things like beer, soda, and anything carbonated. Yes, even DIET sodas are included on this list. It's quite simply really... the fizz is air. Air makes you bloat.

Sodium. Too much sodium can be a problem, and most of us eat way too much of it because it's hidden in things that we may not even realize (read your labels). You may think you are helping yourself by eating those freezer dinners, but they are packed with sodium. So, despite being low in calories, they could still be bloating you up! Limit your sodium intake. ...

Other culprits... as healthy as they are for you, veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, as well as legumes and beans, can also cause bloating.

Whole Foods Almond Milk

2010-08-10T20:20:00.004-04:00

Using nuts as the basis for a white, milk-like liquid is apparently as old as milking itself. Nut "milks" haven't had as much success in the market as soy "milks," though. That appears to be changing.

Whole Foods Market, the upscale supermarket chain, announced "the expansion of its all organic and domestically sourced non-dairy beverage line as it launches the company's first almond milk line –including the industry's first-ever private label refrigerated organic almond milk– and light soymilk in Original and Vanilla varieties under its value-priced 365 Organic Everyday Value brand– available now in Whole Foods Market stores nationwide."

The company will continue to offer shoppers its popular high quality 365 Organic Everyday Value Soy and Rice Milk in Original, Vanilla, Chocolate and Unsweetened varieties, with new graphics to streamline the package design across the category. Soy and almond milk options will be sold in both refrigerated and shelf-stable varieties. ...

To taste the new non-dairy beverages, visit any Whole Foods Market store across the U.S. In-store sampling demonstrations will be held throughout August.

Gluten-Free... Nail Polish. What?

2010-08-09T22:24:00.003-04:00

Case #1874 from the files of mothers who develop allergen-free products for their kids involves Natalie Bauss and Katy Scheffler. "Scheffler has to pay close attention to ingredients because her family has a wide range of food allergies, including lactose, gluten and yeast," wrote Shandra Martinez of The Grand Rapids Press in an article found on MLive.com.

So they "channeled their passion for organic ingredients and concerns about food allergies into the Keeki Pure and Simple line of products: lip balm, nail polish and polish remover."

Wait. What? Why does nail polish or polish remover have to be gluten-free? (Is there any nail polish that isn't?) Even lip balm. There are some allergens that could produce a reaction from single touching, but I don't believe that even licking all the lip balm off one's lips could provide enough gluten to have a reaction. Even assuming that lip balm contains gluten normally.

And that raises an interesting question. Does any lip balm contain gluten?

You can quickly find sites that say yes.

Suite101: A Gluten Free Diet: There Are Many Benefits To Eliminating Gluten

Also, cosmetics such as lipstick, lip balm, and chapsticks may contain gluten.

Hidden sources of gluten

Lip stick and lip balm contain gluten.

But what kind of lip balm? Which brands?

Searching brings up dozens of brands that claim to be gluten-free. Blistex, no. Carmex, no. Burt's Bees, no. Aveeno Essential Moisture Lip Conditioner, no. ChapStick, no. Ecolips, no. The Merry Hempsters, no. Nivea, no. Savonnerie, no. Badger Balm, no. Boston America, no. Some of these contain warnings that the ingredients may come into contract with gluten or other allergens in the manufacturing process.

Remember, however, that skin contact with gluten is not an issue. Only swallowing a sufficient quantity of gluten is.

So that brings me to Bonne Bell. Most of its brands contain no gluten. However, some do. Here is the list that was given on the Gluten Free Betsy website of gluten-containing products.

Original Lip Smackers
Sun Smackers (Including Clip N Go)
Megastar Lip Smackers
Kool Aid Lip Smackers
F’lip Styles
F’lip Glosses
Lip Lites Glossy Tints Balms
M&M Lip Smacker Balms (New Formula with Castor Oil)
Dasani Balms
Pinky Lip Smackers Balms
Skittles Lip Balms (New Formula with Castor Oil)
DPSU Lip Smackers
All Starburst Lip Balms
Color Kiss Lip Balms
Lip Smackers w/SPF

The Savvy Celiac blog reported a study that states that "The smallest amount of gluten which has been shown by a biopsy to cause damage to a celiac is 0.1 gram per day (Catassi et al.)." On the other hand, the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center sets a higher risk standard,"As little as 1/8 of a teaspoon of flour is enough to set off this abnormal response." That's about 0.3 grams. Both those numbers, while small, are likely larger than the amount of gluten in any one application of lip balm, especially if you don't swallow it all.

The point is a subtle one. Most cosmetics that are applied to skin don't matter if they contain gluten. Gluten does not get absorbed through skin. It must go through the digestive system. Nail polish shouldn't be any worry unless you lick and suck all the polish off.

Lip sticks, or lip balms, or lip glosses, or lip conditioners are more likely to be licked and swallowed. Many brands can be found with no gluten at all. Of the brands that do contain gluten, an occasional application shouldn't be cause for worry, especially if you allow them to flake off.

Gluten-free is mostly a gimmick, selling you products by announcing that they don't claim an ingredient that very few contain in the first place. But that's marketing for you. Making a virtue out of something you never had is an ancient sales technique. Green vendors may be rediscovering its effectiveness, but it's really an evergreen, old as the hills.

Paleolithic Restaurant Discovered in Arizona

2010-08-07T00:32:00.003-04:00

Wow, remember The Stone Age Diet, also known as the Paleolithic Diet or the Cave Man Diet? The idea behind the diet is that humanity evolved to eat fruits, vegetables, and lean meats rather than dairy, grains, sugar, and processed foods. Therefore, the best diet for us today is a copy of that limited menu.

Guessing what humanity ate over tens or hundreds of thousands of years in varying climates and settings is a bit harder than knowing exactly what was eaten, so the various claims for the diets wobble all over the place. I have more references in the link given above.

I hadn't heard of this fad for several years. (And it is a fad diet. There is no necessary reason or scientific backing for it, other than the common sense claims that are sometimes made.) But an Arizona chef has opened a Paleolithic Diet restaurant in trendy Scottsdale.

An article by Carey Sweet of the Arizona Republic splashes a few details.

Some chefs try to predict future trends for their cooking inspiration. Calistro California Bistro chef-owner Devin Walsh is looking back. By about 2.5 million years....

It celebrates foods people ate prior to agriculture and animal husbandry (such as wild game or grass-fed meat, wild-caught fish, shellfish, eggs, tree-nut oils, vegetables, roots, fruit, berries and mushrooms). Not allowed are Neolithic Era foods that evolved from our manipulation (grains, sugar, dairy, beans, and processed foods).

You wouldn't be grazing on mostly dozens of species of plant material with some scavenged raw meat, though. Perish forbid.

For appetizers, Walsh offers chicken or lamb meatballs blended with prosciutto and tomato jam on an almond-meal tortilla. Entrees include salmon over fresh crab and organic-vegetable hash with citrus beets and a dollop of tarragon-mustard or chimichurri pork roast atop sweet-potato mash.

Bees are found everywhere, so "Desserts are sweetened with honey, including poached fruit with house-made granola."

Wait, granola? Isn't granola made with grains?

Never mind. Our Paleo ancestors would find every bit of food in that description odd. And would love, love, love to have the luxury of eating grains, sugar, dairy, beans, and processed foods. Authenticity is a luxury given to the decadent. Enjoy.

Allergic? Try Donkey Milk.

2010-08-06T00:02:00.002-04:00

Each mammal's milk is different from every other mammal's milk. They vary in the amount and the composition of the fats, carbohydrates, and proteins they contain. That last is extremely important. It's not just that milk contains two main types of proteins, casein and whey, but that each are whole families of related proteins. Allergies, however, can be extremely specific. A reaction can occur to one type of casein but not another.

And that means that people who are allergic to the specific protein variations (technically known as protein fractions) in cow's milk may not be allergic to the different set of proteins in another mammal's milk.

In Italy, the researchers went to a showing of Shrek 3 and had an aha! moment. Maybe not, but they decided to investigate the allergenicity of donkey milk anyway.

And it worked.

"Adequacy and tolerance to ass's milk in an Italian cohort of children with cow's milk allergy," by Riccardina Tesse, Claudia Paglialunga, Serena Braccio and Lucio Armenio. Italian Journal of Pediatrics 2009, 35:19doi:10.1186/1824-7288-35-19

I found an article about it on Horsetalk.co.nz. (Horsetalk? Donkeys? Makes perfect sense to me.)

Thirty children with a suspected cow's milk allergy, aged six months to 11 years, were enrolled in the study.

They underwent skin-prick tests and a double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge to confirm their cow's milk allergy.

Testing confirmed the existence of an allergic response in 25 of the children.

Each was then openly given fresh donkey's milk.

Specific biomarkers were checked to evaluate the health of the children before including donkey milk in their diet. The participants were checked again 4-6 months after going on to donkey's milk.

The researchers found that 24 out of 25 subjects (96%) tolerated donkey milk, with their blood biomarkers unchanged after incorporating it in their diet.

The children in the study had no more than moderate allergy. None of the test subjects with severe allergy agreed to take part in the study.

Where you would get donkey milk here is hard to say. I suppose you could talk to your local Democratic Party headquarters, but that's just a joke. I will hope that elephant milk will be tested next, for proper bipartisanship.

Experts Sort Out the Confusion Over Milk Substitutes

2010-08-05T00:02:00.002-04:00

Articles on the many and varied array of milk substitutes and alternatives are a perennial in the newspaper business. But I haven't reported on one in a year, since "Milks" Galore: Soy, Rice, Almond, and Hemp.

Here's one by Betsy Friauf of the McClatchy Newspapers syndicate, found here, that covers even more alternatives (almond, hemp, rice, soy, oat, and coconut, along with real milks, including lactose-free, fat-free, and fortified.

And here's something I love: it gets goat milk right. Wa-hoo!

Dietitian says: Despite claims, it's unlikely to ease intolerance, as goat's milk is nutritionally very similar to cow's milk.

Vegan Cruises

2010-08-04T20:15:00.003-04:00

Vegan has gone mainstream and nothing is more mainstream than cruises, which are apparently nothing more than 10,000 calories a day with ocean breezes.

Chari Suri wrote about vegan cruises on The Huffington Post.

The chefs on board were more aware of my dietary needs than I had given them credit for. Before long, I was feasting on Indian dishes, delicately-flavored al dente pasta and crisp, almost "farm to table" quality salads. Navigating the breakfast, lunch and dinner menu was a lot less pedestrian that I thought it would be. Noticing the absence of generous vegan options in the dessert department (how long can the "sorbet with fruits and berries" song possibly go on for?), I resorted to the biblical "ask and you shall receive" approach and requested the head waiter to give me some variations on what was becoming an increasingly boring theme. The very next day, I had a soy ice cream sundae with warm apple turnover. It really does pay to be a pest.

She goes on to talk about options available from several cruise companies.

Battle of the Best Vegetarian-Friendly Cities

2010-08-01T14:29:00.003-04:00

Which cities are friendliest to vegetarians? You got choices.

GoVeg.com has three lists, large American cities, small American cities, and Canadian cities.

America's Best Vegetarian-Friendly Large Cities
1. Portland, Oregon
2. Seattle, Washington
3. San Francisco, California
4. New York, New York
5. Atlanta, Georgia
6. Washington, D.C.
7. Minneapolis, Minnesota
8. Austin, Texas
9. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
10. Chicago, Illinois

America's Best Vegetarian-Friendly Small Cities
1. Asheville, North Carolina
2. Eugene, Oregon
3. Salt Lake City, Utah
4. Norfolk, Virginia
5. Santa Monica, California
6. Santa Cruz, California
7. Boulder, Colorado
8. Madison, Wisconsin
9. Athens, Georgia
10. Ann Arbor, Michigan

Canada's Best Vegetarian-Friendly Cities
1. Vancouver, British Columbia
2. Victoria, British Columbia
3. Toronto, Ontario
4. Montréal, Québec
5. Calgary, Alberta
6. Ottawa, Ontario

You can find more about each of those cities' vegetarian delights by clicking on the links at the page.

PETA has a list that's similar in concept but limited to ten large North American cities.

1.Washington, D.C.
2.Portland, Oregon
3.Albuquerque, New Mexico
4.Atlanta, Georgia
5.Seattle, Washington
6.Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
7.San Francisco, California
8.Los Angeles, California
9.New York, New York
10.Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Chelsea's Vegan Wedding Cake

2010-07-31T22:44:00.005-04:00

Every media outlet in the known universe has an article on Chelsea Clinton's wedding today. How can I say this? Because even The Hill, a specialty, small-circulation, insider's paper that doesn't cover anything but Congress has an article on Chelsea's wedding.

I don't want to break media law, so I need to have a Chelsea article too.

And I'll quote from The Hill to do it, completing the loop.

Chelsea Clinton is a vegan, so guests can expect a dairy-free wedding cake, as well as other non-vegan choices.

Oh, and the news doesn't stop there, my friends. The cake is also gluten-free! From the bridal site, AisleDash.com:

Our sources tell us that the bride's gluten allergy is making it difficult to find a wedding baker. Calls to three top bakers in New York state, including family favorite Lulu's in Scarsdale, have not confirmed who will be making the couple's wedding cake but a gluten-free cake is sure to be on the wedding menu.

Old news. Lulu's logo was spotted!

Lulu's cake gallery. The cake has been widely reported to cost $11,000.

Look, if you're upset that the daughter of a president has had an elaborate wedding, get over yourself and study some history. President's daughters - whether their fathers happen to be in office or not - have always had fairytale weddings.

And Chelsea appears to be a model for all. Bright, modest, educated, unspoiled by fame, and utterly untouched by scandal. If you can't be happy for someone like her then look inward for your faults.

Mazel tov, Chelsea and Marc. May a dairy-free, gluten-free life of happiness await you both. (Or dairy-, gluten-, and meat-filled if you, Marc, are none of the above.)

UPDATE:
Dianna Mardar of Philly.com has the latest on Chelsea's cake. Seems that all the early reports were severely deficient in the fact department.

First, the baker was wrong. The cake was "a triumph for Frances and Maarten Steenman of La Tulipe Desserts in New York's Westchester County."

And while Chelsea is a vegan, the cake itself wasn't. Gluten-free to be sure, but filled with dairy. Or at least chocolate mousse. And butter, according to other reports. Not to mention eggs.

Some media outlets speculated that the wedding cake was also dairy-free because the bride is a vegetarian of long standing. But Frances Steenman said that was not the case.

"Instead of flour, we used a special brown rice blend that contains no barley, rye, oats, or wheat," she said. "But no, it was not a vegan cake."

Honestly, do reporters at major outlets not understand the difference between vegan and vegetarian? I admit that despite the number of stories referring to her as a vegan, there are also reports saying that she is a vegetarian instead. Chelsea has stayed far enough off the radar that not knowing this bit of info about her isn't surprising.

Either way, I'm sure all of you understand the distinction: vegetarians often have dairy and eggs; vegans do not. Vegan cookbooks are fine for those looking for dairy-free recipes; vegetarian cookbooks are often problematic. How can there still be people who don't get it?

Grump.

The Divvies Bakery Cookbook

2010-07-28T22:31:00.005-04:00

I've written about Divvies many times before. Over the past few years they've become hugely famous for their kosher, vegan, dairy-free, and other allergen-free cupcakes and baked goods. And they manage to get national television attention for their products, even though - or maybe because - they are available only at the most upscale locations.

Now Lori Sandler of Divvies has a cookbook available. The Divvies Bakery Cookbook: No Nuts. No Eggs. No Dairy. Just Delicious!

Product Description
The Divvies Bakery Cookbook is an opportunity for the millions of people who are dealing with serious food allergies to put the sweet back in their kitchens. With an assortment of delicious recipes, free of the four major food allergens – peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, and eggs (all vegan!), Lori Sandler offers sweet treats that everyone can enjoy and share ANY time: at birthday parties, snack time, bake sales, holidays, picnics, dessert time, and just because. What ingredients are left out have been replaced by double dollops of the good and the gooey – like chocolate, oatmeal, and molasses, – making the confections not only safe to eat, but absolutely delicious for everyone, even those without food allergies.

Divvies, an irresistible "fun-foods" company devoted to baking safe-to-eat, tasty treats for people with life-threatening food allergies, has been featured on Good Morning America and The Martha Stewart Show, as well as in the New York Times, New York Post, Gourmet Magazine, Vogue, Everyday with Rachel Ray, Daily Candy, and Urban Baby. All of their products are made in a dedicated facility where no nuts, eggs, milk, or ingredients that may have been exposed to these allergens are allowed in the door.

Some of the tasty recipes featured in THE DIVVIES BAKERY COOKBOOK include:

Divvies Famous Chocolate Cupcakes (featured on the Martha Stewart Show!)
Benjamin’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pick-Your-Berry Muffins
Extra Thick, Treasured-Filled Marshmallow Treats
“Ice Cream” Hash
Movie Night Popcorn

With the degree of "divviculty" indicated for each recipe, tips for the best birthday parties, perfect picnic baskets, cool cupcake towers, snacks in a cinch, tasty travel treats, and bonus gluten-free recipes, THE DIVVIES BAKERY COOKBOOK is the essential allergen-free cookbook for beginners and kitchen experts alike.

St. Martin's Hardback
List Price: $25.99
176 pages

Another Denunciation of Raw Milk

2010-07-26T21:45:00.002-04:00

Slate.com recently had a long article on the history of raw milk advocacy, "The Raw-Milk Deal: Pure-food worshippers put their health at risk—especially when they drink unpasteurized milk," by Deborah Blum.

Today, just about 0.5 percent of all the milk consumed in this country is unpasteurized. Yet from 1998 to 2008, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received reports of 85 infectious disease outbreaks linked to raw milk. In the past few months, physicians have treated salmonella in Utah, brucellosis in Delaware, campylobacter in Colorado and Pennsylvania, and an ugly outbreak of E. coli O157-H7 in Minnesota, which sickened eight people in June. Epidemiologists not only identified a rare strain of the bacteria but matched its DNA to those stricken, the cows on the farm that supplied them with raw milk, and manure smearing the milking equipment and even the animals themselves. When regulators shut down the dairy farm, supporters promptly charged them with belonging to a government conspiracy to smear the reputation of a hallowed food.

Some, like Wisconsin raw-milk champion Max Kane, dismiss infectious disease altogether: "The bacteria theory's a total myth," Kane told one interviewer. "It allows us to have an enemy to go after similar to how it is with terrorism. It's food terrorism."

After a dairy in Washington state was linked to an E. coli outbreak last December, the farmer himself put it like this in an interview with the Seattle Times. Scientists were wrong to malign his milk because "everything God designed is good for you."

Sigh.

My position on raw milk is that its safety is as good as the farm that sells it. The farm has to be pretty near perfect to keep cattle from being infected. If the farm's standards are supremely high, there is nothing wrong with raw milk. However, it is extremely difficult to keep standards that high, and the more cattle the harder it is to do.

The flip side is that there is nothing special about raw milk, although it very well might taste better. It is not healthier for you. For sure it has no special properties that make it drinkable for those who are lactose intolerant. Sometimes it seems like every raw milk advocate spews forth this nonsense about LI and I have to admit that it prejudices me against their case. If they are that wrong on this crucial point, what else might they be wrong about?

For those who advocate raw milk, the comments on that article contain many passionate defenses. The conflicting claims about statistics are a problem. Here's my take. The raw, pardon the pun, numbers of illnesses from raw milk are small, but since so few people have access to raw milk, there are a disproportionate number of illnesses per capita. That worries me.

I'll also fault Deborah Blum on one side issue. Yes, it's true that organic foods aren't more nutritious and that people who say that are simply ignorant. But most knowledgeable proponents of organic foods make the different claim that they taste better. You can test objectively for nutrition; you can't test for taste. That's subjective. We do know, however, that many foods have been bred to travel well so that they can be shipped to market in better condition, often better-looking condition, but that this affects taste. If you want to argue in favor of organics for taste then you have a much better case, and one that Blum should have mentioned.

Disolact Lactase Drops

2010-07-24T00:02:00.004-04:00

When I wrote yesterday about a new source of lactase drops, it reminded that a year or so ago I told you of a source of Lacteeze drops from Canada available through eBay.

Don't bother going back and finding that post. The link is dead and you can't get Lacteeze through eBay. But Pat Gilbers, the same entrepreneur who sold the Lacteeze is back with a different foreign lactase drop product, Disolact.

Gilbers (a Ben Gilbers is actually the contact listed there) has a minimalist web site at LactoseSolutions.com. And if you go to eBay and enter in "lactase drops" you'll see two hits, one of which is for Disolact. (The other is for Lactaid lactase drops from a Canadian seller.)

Disolact is made by Disolut, a Dutch firm. Fortunately, their lactase drops page is in English.

With DISOLACT® lactase drops you can make 56 litres of ordinary milk lactase arm. But also whipped cream and custard!

DISOLACT® lactase drops are packed per 14 ml. in a drop-bottle.

How to use DISOLACT® lactase drops?

DISOLACT® lactase drops (standard 5 drops per litre of milk) have to be added to the milk (product). Shake so that the lactase mixes with the milk (product). After this you place the milk (product) in the refrigerator, after 24 hours more than 92% of the lactose has been digested.

If you go to any of Pat Gilbers' pages, the shipping will be from St. Louis.

Those of you in Europe who want to buy Disolact, it is available in Euros from their website.

New Source of Lactase Drops

2010-07-23T20:29:00.003-04:00

The coming and going of lactase drops in the U.S. has been an ongoing saga for many years. The last news I had was bad. I had to inform you that Pharmax Liquid Lactase Drops were no longer being available.

That meant that while lactase could still be imported from Canada, where the Lacteeze and Lactaid brands are available from a number of internet retailers, the convenience of not needing to get mail across borders was lacking.

Then Benjamin Lynch sent me a welcome email.

I used to provide the Liquid Lactase by Pharmax but, as you may know, it no longer exists.

No one has access to Liquid Lactase anymore which is why I manufactured our own Lactase Drops.

It arrived last week at our distribution center.

Lactase Drops took me months to develop as I was strict in ensuring its effectiveness and purity. We had to redo the formula a few times in order to get it strong and effective. I found it is very difficult to make but we got it.

You may find it here:
www.healthegoods.com/lactase-drops-liquid-lactase-enzyme-supplement.html.

There are quite a few Q and A there already which I have answered. Please read them as they should answer quite a few of your questions.

Here's a partial quote from that page.

Lactase Drops digests lactose so you may enjoy dairy once again. Only $0.29 to make a pint of lactose-free milk. Makes up to 94 pints, 45 liters or 12 gallons of lactose-free milk. Laboratory tested for effectiveness and purity. Made in a GMP Certified facility in Canada according to the strict rules of Health Canada.

The product appears to be repackaged Lacteeze drops. I've always had great admiration for Gelda Scientific, the company that makes Lacteeze drops and which waged a campaign to keep them available in America through mail order after Lactaid stopped making them here. I'd be happy to recommend any company that offers Lacteeze.

So I'm going to give a very cautious recommendation that you purchase these lactase drops if you don't want any hassle in getting them from Canada.

I dislike the general tone of the HealthE Goods site. You can't cure all those dozens of ailments or alleviate all those symptoms with over-the-counter remedies. But you can say exactly the same thing of a GNC store or any pharmacy. I'm old fashioned that way. And I have to admit that I do buy certain products at pharmacies or GNC and all the similar stores. The secret is to pick your products and stick to them.

So with that said, it's good to see lactase drops easily available in the U.S. once more.

A Better Way to Use Lactose

2010-07-19T00:02:00.003-04:00

Are you lactose-intolerant? Do you turn up your nose at milk? Are you so contemptuous of dairy that you feel you'd rather stick your foot in it rather than drinking it?

Go ahead. That may be a good idea.

Erin Andrews, the ESPN reporter, had an article on Zimbio.com talking about the best way to get a spa-quality pedicure at home.

Erin Andrews photo courtesy of Drew Shealy via Wikipedia

Point number three:

3. Soak feet in a flat-bottomed tub filled with warm water. To create a spa-like experience, add in bath salts, aromatherapy oil or epsom salt, then soak for 10 minutes. Try adding one-half cup of milk to your foot bath; the lactose will help loosen dead skin.

Is this true? Why should this work? What's the mechanism?

I can't imagine any answers to these questions. Frankly, I think it's totally insane quackery.

It can't hurt you in any way I can think of, though, so if you want to have fun with milk you can't drink, be my guest.

Turtle Mountain's Dairy-Free Giveaway

2010-07-18T12:53:00.003-04:00

Turtle Mountain has been promoting its coconut milk dairy-free alternative as a major product since its introduction.

It wants you to try it so badly that the company is giving it away free.

Oh, not to you, of course. Unless you happen to live in Eugene, OR. Still, it's kinda cool.

The press release has this to say.

Turtle Mountain’s 2nd Annual Dairy-Free Ice Cream Giveaway will be held at Alton Baker Park in Eugene, OR, on Sunday, July 25, 2010. The festival is free to the public, and those who attend will receive So Delicious Dairy Free® made with Coconut Milk frozen confections.

Family-friendly games and prizes will be offered. The company expects to give out several thousand So Delicious Dairy Free® Made with Coconut Milk ice cream sandwiches and stick-bars. The event will also feature live musical performances by popular local artists and bands, including The Blair Street Mugwumps, Soulicious, and Michael Conley. A drawing will be held for prizes, including t-shirts, iPod shuffles, grocery gift certificates for Market of Choice, a year’s supply of ice cream, and a grand prize of a new hybrid bicycle, courtesy of Simply Cycle. Winners will be selected at 3 p.m.

Additionally, in an effort to support Turtle Mountain’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, anyone who rides a bike to the event will receive a free product coupon for So Delicious Dairy Free® frozen or refrigerated items which are widely available in the Eugene/Springfield area.

Coupons are also available at the Turtle Mountain website.

Hain Dreams - Dairy-Free Multitudes

2010-07-16T00:02:00.006-04:00

The Hain-Celestial Group is so gigantic that they're almost too big to see. I talk about new firms that enter the non-dairy and dairy alternative market because they're easy to spot when I walk by the shelves. Hain products are always there and it's hard to keep track of what's new. I've had them on my website product list forever, of course.

How big are they? Gape at this list:

Hain Celestial participates in almost all natural food categories with well-known brands that include Celestial Seasonings®, Terra®, Garden of Eatin’®, Health Valley®, WestSoy®, Earth’s Best®, Arrowhead Mills®, DeBoles®, Hain Pure Foods®, FreeBird™, Hollywood®, Spectrum Naturals®, Spectrum Essentials®, Walnut Acres Organic™, Imagine Foods™, Rice Dream®, Soy Dream®, Rosetto®, Ethnic Gourmet®, Yves Veggie Cuisine®, Linda McCartney®, Realeat®, Lima®, Grains Noirs®, Natumi®, JASON®, Zia® Natural Skincare, Avalon Organics®, Alba Botanica® and Queen Helene®.

The one, or ones, I want to talk about today are the Dream lines of dairy-free drinks and frozen desserts. They are all found at Taste the Dream.

There are four Dreams, Rice, Soy, Hemp, and Almond, each obviously named after the ingredient that is used as the base. Kidz Dream is soymilk and fruit juice smoothies.

The newest line is Chocolate Dream bars.

New Chocolate Dream dairy free candy bars are premium all-natural, solid chocolate bars crafted from cocoa that will satisfy everyone’s chocolate dream.

Available in five decadent varieties, they contain no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or refined sugars making them truly a dairy free and gluten free dream come true.

The five flavors are Dark Chocolate in Almond, Pure Dark, Rice Crunch, and Raspberry, and Sweet Chocolate in Creamy Sweet.

If you think you remember the Dream lines under another name, you're right.

The roots of RICE DREAM and SOY DREAM go back to 1971, when Robert Nissenbaum, one of the original founders, had opened Morning Dew Organic Food Market in St. Louis, MO. It was one of the first organic/natural food stores in the United States. Robert was very passionate about the relationship between diet, health and well being, as well as very concerned for the environment. He explored the natural vegetarian diet, macrobiotics, yoga, and organic gardening. He used his store as the vehicle to share his ideas and inform others about the benefits of this new way of living.

In 1982, Robert and another partner founded Imagine Foods in the Missouri countryside. Things really took off when he and his partner took some of their products including soy tempeh, an early version of RICE DREAM beverage, and RICE DREAM Frozen Dessert to a natural food industry trade show. The distributors were crazy about the RICE DREAM Frozen Dessert. The orders kept coming, and the company kept growing and changing, to offer the highest quality, most delicious all-natural foods.

In December of 2002, Imagine foods was made part of The Hain Celestial Group- the country’s largest and most respected natural and organic foods company. Imagine Foods is proud to be part of The Hain Celestial Group’s family of brands that provide delicious “better for you” foods loved by people of all ages.

Taste The Dream Consumer Relations
The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.
4600 Sleepytime Dr.
Boulder, CO 80301

Or call us at:
1-800-434-4246, Monday-Friday, 7am-5pm Mountain Time

If you would like more information about The Hain Celestial Group, go to www.hain-celestial.com

Wholly Wholesome Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie

2010-07-15T00:02:00.004-04:00

I don't normally list dairy-free baked goods, because lots and lots of very ordinary products turn out to be dairy free. But a dairy-free frozen pumpkin pie? That's unusual.

Wholly Wholesome makes a line of goods that has the claims that you come to expect from "natural" foods. No:

• Artificial Flavors, Colors, Preservatives or Additives
• Hydrogenated Fats, Oils or Trans Fatty Acids
• Conventionally Refined Sugars or Synthetic Sweeteners
• Bleached or Bromated Flours
• Irradiated Ingredients

Their Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie has the following ingredients and warnings:

INGREDIENTS: Pumpkin, Organic Cane Sugar, Water, Organic Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oil (Palm Oil, Soybean Oil), Organic Whole Wheat Flour, Organic Tapioca Starch, Soy Flour, Rice Flour, Sea Salt, Cinnamon, Ginger, Cloves, Calcium Sulfate.

CONTAINS: Wheat and Soy.

Made in a facility that uses dairy products and tree nuts.

Wholly Wholesome
General Nathan Cooper House (1866)
401 Route 24
Chester, New Jersey 07930

800-247-6580 (within the US)
908-879-0880 (phone)
908-879-0710 (fax)

Truwhip Whipped Topping Alternative

2010-07-14T17:34:00.005-04:00

Truwhip is a lactose-free whipped cream alternative with an unusual list of ingredients.

INGREDIENTS: Water, organic tapioca syrup, expeller-pressed palm kernel oil, organic cane sugar, organic palm kernel oil, contains less than 2% of each of the following: organic soy protein concentrate, sodium caseinate (milk protein), organic tapioca starch, natural flavors, organic soy lecithin, xanthan gum, guar gum. contains milk and soy.

Note that while Truwhip is lactose-free, it still has the milk protein casein, so it can't be considered dairy-free. But it's 100% natural and 70% organic and free of a long list of other items:

•no GMOs
•no hydrogenated oils
•trans fat free
•gluten free
•no high fructose corn syrup
•no polysorbate 60

It's found mostly at natural food stores.

Peak Foods Boise Sales Office
877 W. Main St. Ste 700
Boise, ID 83702
Toll Free (800) 727-9939

Ian's Natural Foods - Dairy and Gluten-Free Kid's Meals

2010-07-12T00:02:00.006-04:00

Ian's Natural Foods has an allergen-free line of kid's foods that are all "made without wheat, gluten, casein, milk, eggs or nuts".

Three of the meals are of special interest to dairy-free families as true alternatives to normally dairy-laden products.

Mac & No Cheese - WF/GF Recipe

Kids with food allergies can now enjoy another American classic - macaroni and cheese! Ian’s combined brown rice pasta with a rich ’no cheese’ sauce to create a delicious macaroni and cheese dish made without wheat, gluten, milk, casein, eggs, nuts or soy.

Mac & Meat Sauce - WF/GF Recipe

Tender brown rice pasta, ground chicken and flavorful marinara sauce are combined to create the perfect Italian-style dinner for kids with food allergies! Ian’s WF/GF Recipe Mac & Meat Sauce is made without wheat, gluten, milk, casein, eggs, nuts or soy.

French Bread Pizza - WF/GF Recipe

Ian’s French Bread Pizza is a great-tasting meal for anyone with allergies! Don’t limit yourself to homemade pizza; enjoy the taste of thick, hearty wheat and gluten-free French bread with a zesty Italian sauce, plus nutritious dairy and casein-free mozzarella cheese. French Bread Pizza is made without wheat, gluten, milk, casein, nuts or eggs. Contains soy.

Ian's Natural Foods, Inc.
360 Merrimack Street
Building 9, Suite 320
Lawrence, MA 01843

Phone: 800.54.FOODS (36637)
Fax: 978.989.0602

Follow Your Heart Dairy Alternatives

2010-07-11T00:02:00.004-04:00

It's been four years since I posted about Follow Your Heart and in that time they introduced new soy-based dairy alternatives.

They now have a sour cream alternative and a cream cheese alternative.

Description

Thick and creamy, this non-dairy delight tastes just like the old-fashioned favorite. Our fresh sour cream is a perfect topping for Mexican food, a rich base for dips, and the finishing touch on top of a steaming baked potato.

Description

Our cream cheese alternative has the smooth, buttery taste of the diary version with the same velvety texture. Made with organic ingredients, this cream cheese gives richness to cheesecakes, frostings and desserts, and naturally, nothing is better on a bagel!

They also have several vegan, dairy-free, cheese alternatives, which they claim can melt like real cheese even though they don't contain the milk protein casein.

Leave your perceptions of soy cheese behind. Vegan Gourmet® Cheese Alternatives taste great, and they melt! Yes, it's true! It's a non-dairy cheese revolution! Our heart healthy "cheeses" contain no cholesterol or gluten, are lower in fat than dairy cheese, and contain no lactose or other dairy products.

Flavors: Cheddar Cheese; Monterey Jack; Mozzarella; Nacho