Functional Nondairy Makes Europe Healthier

You'd think that milk was already plenty darn functional, what with all those vitamins and minerals it contains. But sales of liquid milk have been falling for years, both in the U.S. and the U.K.

So dairies are looking for ways to make milk more functional. In fact, today "functional" drinks have a whole new definition: they are drinks that have had sterols added that supposedly actively lower cholesterol counts. A long article at nutraingredinets.com details the growing U.K. market for such products.

Tesco for example has launched functional milk under its private label whilst Pepsico has added a novel functional juice to its Tropicana range. Like soy drinks, the new functional drinks contain sterols that actively lower cholesterol levels.

Soy drinks were originally bought by consumers suffering from lactose intolerance. But scientific evidence linking soy consumption to lower incidence of heart disease has allowed manufacturers to market soy drinks as functional beverages.

These beverages are very popular in the UK where up to two-thirds of the population have high cholesterol levels. Chilled soymilk is the fastest growing segment with sales expanding by over 20 per cent a year.

The popularity of soymilk led Unilever to launch a competing functional milk product in 2004. Fortified with plant sterols, Flora Pro Activ also actively lowers cholesterol.

It is positioned alongside chilled soymilk in supermarkets and is targeted at consumers who are health-conscious but do not like the taste of soy.

Tesco's new functional milk drink is targeted at the same consumer segment. Its cholesterol-lowering milk is fortified with Reducol, a plant sterol.

The functional ingredient is derived from forestry by-products and is guaranteed GM-free. The new milk is part of a cholesterol-lowering dairy product range marketed under the Tesco brand.

Pepsico is also looking to capitalise on growing demand for functional beverages by launching a fortified juice drink under the Tropicana brand. The orange juice is fortified with Benecol, a stanol-ester ingredient that actively lowers cholesterol.

The novel orange juice is also targeted at health-conscious consumers.

Alpro's Soya & Fruity is believed to have influenced the launch of the new Tropicana functional juice. Alpro launched Soya & Fruity as a fortified blend of soymilk and fruit juices in June 2005. It has been, until now, the only cholesterol-lowering juice drink in the UK.

With increased investment in the dairy alternatives industry, consumers are likely to see more soy functional beverages. The latest new entrant is Danone, which could launch soy products in the UK if its Senji yoghurts are successful in France.

ABN Amro's investment in Nutrition & Soja could lead to some new soy drinks to be launched in the UK. In February, the company extended its soy drink flavours to include chai and mocha.

Organic Monitor therefore concludes that functional beverages may be the way forward.

Haven't heard of Reducol? Neither had I. A quick search, though, showqs that Reducol, from Forbes Medi-Tech, Inc., is "a unique ingredient containing plant sterols and stanols, commonly known as phytosterols, or 'sterols'."

Kesko, Finland's largest grocery chain, has launched a line of yogurts containing Reducol, called Pirkka, and a new lactose-free margarine.

Functional margarines already exist, from brands like Benecol, which also came out of Finland, and Flora Pro-Activ.

Reducol dairy products don't appear to have hit the U.S. market yet, but the success of Benecol – which is now is 30 countries, including the U.S. – means that they probably can't be far off.

Pediatricians Agree That LI Kids Can Have Milk

Hey, it looks like pediatricians are finally catching up with our reality.

Just two days ago, I posted an item, Kids and Lactose Intolerance, in which I said that kids who are lactose intolerant don't need to avoid dairy entirely.

And guess what: the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) just put out guidelines in its journal Pediatrics concerning Lactose Intolerance in Infants, Children, and Adolescents, written by Melvin B. Heyman, MD, MPH for the AAP Committee on Nutrition. And it does not recommend eliminating dairy products to treat lactose intolerance.

An article on Forbes.com summarizes the new guidelines.

New guidelines say the academy "supports use of dairy foods as an important source of calcium for bone mineral health and of other nutrients that facilitate growth in children and adolescents." Specifically, it does not recommend eliminating dairy products to treat lactose intolerance.

In practical terms, said Dr. Melvin B. Heyman, a member of the committee that wrote the guidelines, the new advice is for parents of children with lactose intolerance, in collaboration with pediatricians, to "test the system and see how much milk, cheese and ice cream they can tolerate."

One reason for the new advice, said Heyman, who is a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, is that "we have more information about what people will tolerate. We know that children who have lactose intolerance have a tendency to tolerate some dairy products."

At least an equally important factor is the need for the calcium in dairy products, he said. "Young people have to get as much calcium as they can to lower the risk of problems with bones as they get older," Heyman said.

There's hope for doctors yet. Maybe eventually they'll even learn the difference between dairy allergies and LI.

More Calcium for Teens

Scientists have found calcium on the moon. Maybe it is really made of cheese.

You don't need to go quite that far to get calcium into your diet, though I'm sure the walk would do you good. As everybody should know, considering that the American Dairy Council keeps telling us, few Americans get enough calcium from their diets. And teens are especially at risk.

So as Marlia Braun, a University of California at Davis Sports Medicine staff member told a 17-year-old girl who wrote to the Sacramento Bee:

Up to 90 percent of peak bone mass is acquired by age 18 in girls and age 20 in boys, which makes youth the best time to invest in bone health.

The recommended amount of calcium for ages 9 to 18 is 1,300 milligrams (mg) per day. Some of the foods that contain calcium are: 1 cup milk, 300 mg; 1 cup yogurt, 250 mg.; 4 ounces tofu, 250 mg.; 1 ounce slice cheese, 200 mg.; 1 cup raw spinach, 25 mg. The most concentrated sources of calcium are dairy products; other foods contain calcium but in smaller amounts relative to the portion.

Calcium intake at your age is important. I suggest reconsidering some of your beverages and snacks, and choosing a replacement with calcium to reach your goal of 1,300 mg per day.

Lowfat milk, liquid yogurts, and other dairy products are sources of drinkable calcium. If you're lactose intolerant and dairy allergic and avoiding milk, then orange juice fortified with calcium is easy to find. Always use 100% juice juices, not ades or punches or cocktails. Although fruit juices are mostly sugar, they are better for you than sodas, but nutritionists still prefer that you find something with less sugar. (No, not diet pop.)

Kids and Lactose Intolerance

I've been writing a lot about kids and dairy allergies, because that can be a scary topic for parents in a new school year.

But what about those children with lactose intolerance?

That's actually a harder subject in some ways, because the vast majority of kids who are lactose intolerant do not have to give up dairy entirely. Yes, despite all the scare stories you may have read, a small amount of lactose, especially in cookies or cake or other desserts, probably won't result in any symptoms at all. Most kids just need to be careful not to have too much at once. The problem is that sensitivity is totally individual. Allergic kids can simply be told not to touch dairy. Ever. Once lactose intolerant kids get old enough to understand the problem, though, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for them. Trial and error is the only approach.

One thing you as parents can do is make sure that your children always have a supply of lactase pills with them just in case. A number of companies make chewable, flavored pills that are easier for kids to use. You can see them on my lactase pills page.

Digestive Advantage also makes a version of its probiotic plus lactase pills for children. They say that the advantage is that the pills need only be taken once a day so children don't have to remember taking them with food or even bothering to question what's in food. That would be enormously helpful, since most kids won't want to interrupt the process of getting something tasty for questions or pills.

I can't say if the pills work, although many people have sent me emails that they have had good experience with other Digestive Advantage products. If you do try them, please let me know how they work, one way or the other.

Breastfeeding Babies with Dairy Allergies

Apparently, breastfeeding is a subject that causes confusion on everyone's part, including pediatricians and other professionals.

Today everybody agrees that breastfeeding is the best policy as a general rule.

There are exceptions, though. A major one concerns babies with food allergies. It's known that proteins from the mother's diet can enter breastmilk and cause reactions in the baby. The cure is simple in concept, but not so simple in practice: remove all trace of the allergen from the mother's diet.

Yet, as Yamiche Léone Alcindor reports in the Seattle Times:

"It isn't uncommon to have a pediatrician write food allergies off," said Jennifer Truluck, whose daughter, Savannah, now 6, is allergic to all eight of the top food allergens. When Savannah was an infant, Truluck said, doctors did not readily consider food allergies as a diagnosis.

"My first pediatrician was really dismissive. ... It wasn't until I bypassed him that I found out how serious her condition was."

Several studies have put the extent of food allergies in children as high as six percent, so there is really no excuse for medical professionals not to be aware of the problem or of its scope.

Local groups are trying to provide their own information for parents. The Food Education Allergy Support Team (FEAST) has several local chapters (including Dayton and Seattle) but its national version is so new that the website isn't even working properly yet.

In the meantime, Anne Munoz-Furlong, Founder and CEO of FAAN, has several suggestions for websites that are operating and provide excellent information:

• Kids with food allergies: www.kidswithfoodallergies.org
  
  
  
• The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN): www.foodallergy.org
  
  
  
• Food Allergy Initiative: www.foodallergyinitiative.org
  
  
  
• American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology: www.aaaai.org

Remember that this is an entirely different problem from lactose intolerance. Breast milk is seven percent lactose, so any baby who is lactose intolerant will have symptoms from breast milk.

Fortunately, this is a rare occurrence naturally, and only becomes an issue for babies who have temporary lactose intolerance from an illness to the intestines. As the name suggests, the symptoms will go away when the intestines heal in a few weeks. A nondairy formula can be substituted in the meantime.

Lactaid Scoopfuls

Where's the lactose-free ice cream, everybody asks. It doesn't sell, I reply.

But it's out there if you look for it. Breyer's makes 100% lactose free vanilla ice cream.

And Lactaid is back in the game. Lactaid had reduced-lactose ice cream before anyone else. Then it seemingly disappeared. I think the problem was that people with enough lactose intolerance not to want to take a chance on eating regular ice cream also don't want to take a chance on eating even reduced-lactose ice cream. They want it all. Er, nothing. Nothing at all, that is: 100% lactose free ice cream.

And now they have it. Lactaid Spoonfuls comes in two flavors, Classic Vanilla and Double Chocolate Chip. [When originally introduced, five flavors were in the press release but I can't find the other three today. But my Sunday post that led me to searching for more on Lactaid Scoopfuls, does mention all five flavors. They seem to be available in the Washington, DC. Area, apparently. Let me know where and if they are still out there anyplace else.]

Both links go to Amazon.com. In a quick Google search, all the online sites seemed to eventually wind up with a link to Amazon, but somebody else must sell it. A Yahoo answers said that Walgreens sold Lactaid Scoopfuls, but it didn't come up on the Walgreens web site.

It gets worse. Lactaid Scoopfuls are made by the big milk producer HP Hood. Hood was the east coast Lactaid dairy licensee for a decade before entering into a national agreement to make and market Lactaid milk products. But if you go to the HP Hood website, Lactaid is nowhere listed as a product. There is a link to the Lactaid website – but that doesn't mention ice cream.

I give up. Order Lactaid Scoopfuls from Amazon. Real milk ice cream in vanilla and chocolate with no lactose. Keep the flavors alive.

More Frozen Nondairy Choices

The article on Frozen Treats from the Washington Post drew some feedback in the Post’s letter column.

Today’s paper has a letter from Matt Dombrowski listing some nondairy desserts that he’s found to be good.

As a lactose-intolerant ice cream and cold dessert fan, I enjoyed your column on Aug. 13 ( Sunday Shopper ). I, too, have tried many alternatives and concur with many of your reviews. However, there were four omissions that are my top choices for non-dairy alternatives. They are:

• Lactaid Scoopfuls, which comes in Double Chocolate Chip (my favorite), Classic Vanilla, Cappuccino Swirl, Creamy Butter Pecan and Mint Chocolate Chip.

Whole Fruit Sorbet, with flavors including Boysenberry, Lemon, Mango, Peach (my favorite), Raspberry, Strawberry and Tropical.

• Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Kiwi Swirl, Jamaican Me Crazy and Berried Treasure sorbets.

Dairy Free Alpro

Alpro Soya is a major UK maker of dairy-free soy - or soya in non-American-speak - products. It produces both Alpro drinks and the organic line called Provamel.

They've revamped their website and rebranded their line of drinks. BrandRepublic.com is reporting that:

Alpro recently announced that it is rebranding its chocolate milk range as Alpro Soya Dairy Free Chocolate Shake, which it is supporting with a nationwide campaign. The company also recently revamped its Oy! Dairy Free Shakes for kids and its core range of dairy-free alternatives to milk.

The chocolate milk overhaul is part of Alpro's strategy to encourage consumers to try soya alternatives and take the niche product into the mainstream.

The U.S. market has responded well to soy milk in mainstream supermarkets, so let's hope this strategy works just as well in the U.K., which has been several years behind the states in awareness of lactose intolerance and dairy allergies. And that meant that products for the lactose intolerant and dairy allergic have been harder to find.

Allergies Are Everywhere, But So Is the Good Advice

Food allergies are truly a worldwide concern these days. And they affect children in every country and culture in a similar way.
A good summary of basic info on food allergies is available from this article from the Malaysia Star, from which I excerpted the following:

The earliest manifestation of allergy in childhood is food allergy, with cow’s milk protein allergy being one of the most common. Food allergy affects all age groups, but infants are more susceptible due to their immature digestive and immune systems. This problem should be taken seriously because it not only brings misery to the affected child, but also impacts the whole family emotionally, socially and financially.

The precise causes of food allergy are unknown but the major contributing factors have been identified as:

• Genetic background of the child

• Inherent ability of certain food components to trigger allergic reactions

• Maturity of the digestive tract

• Age of the child when the offending food is first introduced

• Infants with allergic parents are more prone to food allergy but even normal infants are not spared due to the immaturity of their digestive tracts and immune system. Therefore, the first step in the battle against food allergy is to determine your child’s risk level.

Risk of developing allergies based on family history:

• Both parents without allergies: 5-15%

• One parent with allergies: 20-40%

• Both parents with allergies: 40-60%

Exclusively breastfeed your baby for the first six months of life. During this period, abstain from highly allergenic foods yourself to prevent them from making their way into the breast milk.
Start weaning your baby only after he has reached six months of age. Even then, introduce only one new food a week to enable any allergy to be detected easily. Start with rice or rice cereal as it is least allergenic. Leave out allergenic foods until your baby is at least a year old. These include egg white, peanuts and seafood like prawns, crabs and scallops.

If you are giving your baby commercially prepared foods, read the food labels to screen for unsuitable ingredients. When in doubt, clarify with the manufacturer. A committed and responsible company will always be ready to assist you.

Working with Schools on Food Allergies

Katie Smith, the Food Editor of the Toledo Blade, wote an article with some good advice for children and parents about working with schools when it comes to food problem for kids with allergies, including dairy allergy, and even lactose intolerance.

• For children: Don’t hesitate if you think you are not allowed to have a food. Do ask cafeteria staff about the food.

• For parents and caregivers: Communication with the school is important. “Talk with the school principal, school nurse, and teacher,” says Joe Taylor, principal of Fairfield Elementary School in Maumee. This way they can address any food brought in for treats and during school assemblies as well as school lunch.

• For food service personnel: Call a school nurse if a child questions a food. Often, the label on a food product will list the ingredients and answer the child’s questions, too, notes [Mary Bottoni, food service manager for Maumee City Schools].

• For other classroom parents: Let any parents bringing food into the classroom know about food allergies of the student(s) while respecting confidentiality.

Even Healthier Yogurt - And the Package May Be Just as Good

Most people know that Dannon yogurt is from France. Or is originally from France. Or Spain. And started making yogurt in the 1940s. Or earlier.

I guess most people don't know. I didn't, and I research this stuff.

Anyway, we start with Isaac Carasso, a Greek who saw the popularity of yogurt in the Balkans before World War I. He opened a little yogurt shop in Barcelona, Spain, in 1919. Its name of Danone – little Daniel – came from his young son. Taking advantage of the industrial processes for fermenting yogurt developed at France's Pasteur Institute, he became the first and leading industrial manufacturer of yogurt.

He wisely emigrated to the U.S. to avoid another World War, setting up shop as Dannon Milk Products, Inc., in New York in 1942, the first American yogurt manufacturer. Not an instant success. The company managed to make a whopping 648 half-pints a day. But in 1947 he catered to the American sweet tooth by introducing fruit on the bottom. The rest is history.

Tangled history. Son Daniel had founded Danone in France (aha!) in 1929. Carraso pere sold his American interests shortly after its first flush of success to return to Europe. His Danone brand remained a hit. Eventually he merged Danone with Gervais, the leading fresh cheese business in France (aha!) in 1967, and then in 1973 with BSN (Boussois Souchon Neuvesel), a French company (aha!) who had bought Dannon from the Beatrice conglomerate. In 1994, the whole shebang changed its name to the classic Groupe Danone.

Dannon USA runs the yogurt business in the states. Probably only people who read the company's annual reports know that in 2003 it bought up all the non-employee owned stock of Stonybrook Farms, the largest organic yogurt manufacturer in the world. That's right, megacorp Dannon owns the tony organic label. Stop putting on airs, organicofascists of the world.

(And it owns more than that. Danone agreed earlier this year to up to 20% its stake of Shanghai Bright Dairy & Food Co. Ltd., which merged on August 9 with three other Chinese firms to form Bright Foods (Group) Co. Ltd., China's largest maker of dairy products. Food for you corporate conspiracy theorists. Omnicorp is coming.)

(Groupe Danone is also number two in the world in bottled water – it owns Evian – and owns the venerable British brands of HP and Lea & Perrins sauces.)

Back to dairy products. And France.

On UPI.com, Julia Watson reports from Le Bugue, France, about the future of yogurt, a future already present in much of Europe and one that will arrive in the U.S. soon. A good thing for those with lactose intolerance who want to keep having dairy in their diets.

Across Europe, yogurt has been taken to health-giving heights that would astonish the nomads of the barren steppes. It's not just fruit flavored, or boasting a fuller or lesser fat content. It has been turned into one of the mainstays of the fortified food system, becoming almost a medicine.

If someone says "probiotics" (the new food buzzword indicating the presence of healthy living microorganisms that can help protect the digestive system, in particular from yeast infection or IBS caused by courses of antibiotics), those in the know think yogurt.

The French have been chugging down Danone's Activa -- introduced into the United States in February this year -- since 1987. The makers say that eaten daily for two weeks, the probiotic yogurt can regulate the digestive system by helping to reduce the transit time of food passing through the intestines by up to 40 percent.

One brand popular in Spain contains breast milk bacteria.

Along with spoonable yogurts of varying thicknesses in every country, there are drinkable yogurts, soft-cheese-like yogurts, fermented kefir-type yogurts of the sort solid Russian babushkas have sworn by as a general cure-all for centuries. Some contain ingredients not normally associated with what is plugged in the United States as a dessert, like carrots, cucumber and oats.

Now, some yogurts include agents that have jobs other than tickling the taste buds or persuading consumers they can enjoy something sweet without swallowing too many calories. One contains Tonalin, a fat-reducing agent. Some contain Omega-3 to target cholesterol reduction. Yet more offer energy-boosting and relaxing properties. And others boast an antioxidant quality or offer the beneficial Bifidus active that helps develop flora in the gut.

You don't have to buy a functional probiotic or nutraceutical yogurt to get health benefits. Plain simple yogurt is made by culturing cream and milk or milk alone with live and active cultures, generally Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. By metabolizing with some of the lactose in the milk to make lactic acid, the milk is thickened into yogurt.

But the prime yogurt makers of Europe are looking across the Atlantic to see how the U.S. responds to Danone's Activa. Who know, if enough is eaten, maybe next we'll see the breast milk bacteria variety on the supermarket shelves.

Breast milk bacteria yogurt. I wonder. Is the packaging itself going to be the treat? Suck here for the healthiest and tastiest of snacks? What will marketers in the breast-obsessed U.S. do with this?

Photoshoppers welcome.

More Summer Frozen Treats

There are more non-dairy and lactose-reduced summer frozen treats out there than I can get to. Fortunately, the Washington Post has a nice article comparing and taste-testing a whole range of them.

Breyer's Lactose-Free Natural Vanilla ice cream comes out on top, averaging 4.5 stars, mainly because it's, well, ice cream. Real ice cream with lactase added. This is great for those with lactose intolerance: not-so-good for vegans or those with dairy allergies.

So check out Soy Delicious Purely Decadent soy-based non-dairy frozen dessert, average rating: 3.5 stars; Rice Dream brown rice-based frozen dessert, average rating: 2.5 stars; and Tofutti Milk Free Premium Frozen Dessert, also soy-based, average rating 2.5 stars.

And then there is also LaLoo's Goat's Milk Ice Cream. This again is real ice cream, nothing reduced. It claims to be low-lactose, but I don't know what they base that on. Goat's milk has the same amount of lactose as cow's milk. Those with cow's milk protein allergies may be able to have this safely, because goat's milk has a different set of proteins than cow's milk, but test it first to see if it affects you.

One Year Stroke Free

If you check the archives of Planet Lactose you can't help but be struck, pardon the pun, by the fact that the posts abruptly stop on August 14, 2005 and don't start up again until December.

The reason is simple. On August 15, 2005, one year ago today, I had a stroke.

It was, to my very good fortune, about as mild as real strokes go. In fact, I walked, limping only slightly, into the emergency ward and announced to nurse on duty, "My right side isn't working." Anybody who's ever complained about long waits before seeing a doctor should try that trick. I was in the ICU before my wife got back from parking the car.

My doctor's jaw hit the floor when he found out that they sent me home that night. A CT scan didn't find the stroke. That took an MRI the next day. I walked into that room as well. I never stopped walking at all. Even so, my symptoms kept getting worse for at least 24 hours. By the end of that time, my right hand wasn't good for much. Typing? Well, I could hit a space bar. Keeping up the blog left-handed didn't seem like it was very important at the time.

Once you've had a stroke, you see, you have a nine times higher risk of another stroke.

So a lot changed. I started physical therapy and exercise one week after the stroke. The sooner you get started, the better your outcome is likely to be.

I've been on a bunch of medication and my blood pressure and bloodwork looks a lot better today than a year ago.

And I eat differently. Lot fat, whole grains, lean protein, small portions, lots of fruits and vegetables. It's not a diet. It's the way I'll eat for the rest of my life.

A long life. With lots of blog entries.

Check me out on August 15, 2007.

Goodbye Gas

The website of the magazine Better Homes and Gardens has an article on Treating and Preventing Gas that is excerpted from the Harvard Health Publications Special Health Report, Digestive Health. (Their sister site from Ladies Home Journal magazine has a different excerpt, Causes of Reflux.)

One quick excerpt:

Treating Flatulence

This one is easy. Stop eating the foods that cause gas: beans, fruits, and other complex carbohydrates, as well as the artificial sweetener sorbitol. But don't eliminate all fruits and vegetables, because these foods are the basis of a healthy diet. A product called Beano, which contains an enzyme, alpha-galactosidase, can help metabolize difficult-to-digest complex carbohydrates when taken before meals.

For some people, a drastic reduction in dietary sugars and some cutback in refined starches and wheat flour may help. Activated charcoal, a tasteless black powder, absorbs gas and for some people cuts down on gassiness, particularly after a high-carbohydrate meal. Occasional use is not harmful and there are no side effects. Pepto Bismol may reduce the odor of flatus.

Other topics are Diagnosing Gas, Treating Belching, and Treating Pain and Bloating.

Beware the numberous pop-ups trying to get you to subscribe.

All Hail Baron Clemens Peter Freiherr von Pirquet

Somebody had to be the first one to identify and name the reactions that are the result of allergies, rather than the million and one other causes of bodily reactions.

That someone was Baron Clemens von Pirquet, an Austrian scientist and pediatrician.

Wikipedia says of him:

In 1906 he noticed that patients who had previously received injections of horse serum or smallpox vaccine had quicker, more severe reactions to a second injection. He, along with Bela Schick, coined the word allergy (from the Greek allos meaning "other" and ergon meaning "reaction") to describe this hypersensitivity reaction.

Soon after, the observation with smallpox led Pirquet to realize that tuberculin, which Robert Koch isolated from the bacteria that cause tuberculosis in 1890, might lead to a similar type of reaction. Mantoux expanded upon Pirquet's ideas and the Mantoux test, in which tuberculin is injected under the skin, became a diagnostic test for tuberculosis in 1907.

You'll find a reference to the Baron, along with lots of other detailed information on allergy and intolerance, in a .pdf, Allergies and Other Sensitivities, from the AmsterdamKliniak. Don't worry, it's all in English.

The procedures they talk about may be slightly different from those normally pursued in the United States, but the general information is good and useful.

Blackwell's Organic Gelato and Sorbetto

OK, one more non-dairy frozen dessert item.

Marcia and Tom Blackwell run Blackwell's Organic LLC, maker of "soy gelato and fruit sorbetto, which are organic, vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free desserts. The products are sold at organic and specialty food stores," according to an article in the Asbury Post Press, by David P. Willis.

Tom has been making dairy-free gelato for his own recipe since 2003, using trial and error.

"When we decided to start the business, we had a lot of people sitting around this dining room table, saying, "Taste this chocolate, taste that chocolate, taste that strawberry, taste this strawberry, tell me which one you like better,' " [Marcia] said.

Their products are now in about 50 organic and specialty food stores throughout the Northeast., and are just beginning to appear in supermarkets.

We decided to create a product that would be as clean as possible," Blackwell said. "Everything on our label, you recognize, you know what it is. Chances are you have it in your refrigerator or your freezer. If you don't, you can certainly get it."

Gelato is the Italian word for ice cream, which is traditionally made with milk. Blackwell uses organic soy instead of milk. Sorbetto, which is frozen fruit, water and sugar, is the Italian word for sorbet.

Next month, Blackwell's Organic will be presented with the Emerging Business Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners' Central New Jersey chapter.

Camel Milk Ice Cream – Who Knows Cool Better Than Camels?

I'd walk a mile for a camel… milk ice cream cone. Maybe farther, since it's only being introduced in the United Arab Emirates. Al Ain Dairy, a noted trendsetter in the desert dairy business, "has introduced the country's first natural low fat ice cream made from camel milk," according to an article by Mohammad Shamseddine on GulfNews.com.

The company is using the expert services of Enzo La Blunda, an Italian chef and ice cream specialist, to supervise the manufacturing process.

A statement from the dairy said:

"Children who are allergic to products made from cow's milk can now enjoy the taste of ice cream. Camel milk ice cream is also safe for people who are suffering from lactose intolerance," it added.

Vitamin C found in camel milk is about three times more than in fresh cow's milk.

Weight watchers will enjoy the ice cream since the fat content of camel milk ice cream is a maximum of 2.5 per cent.

Normal cow milk ice cream contains between 6 and 9 per cent fat.

The new product is produced in three flavours: strawberry, caramel and chocolate.

Now it's very possible that few people with cow's milk protein allergy would have reactions to camel's milk proteins, since camel's milk has a different set of proteins. Few is not none, of course, and those who are anaphylactic to dairy should be very cautious.

But low in lactose? I wonder what the basis for this statement is. My Lactose Zoo page shows that camel milk has 3.3% to 5% lactose, about the same range as cow's milk. People seem to make this low-lactose claim for milk from any animal that isn't a cow and it's never true.

But just to be able to say that you licked a chocolate camel: that would be worth a lactase pill.

Tasti D-Lite Frozen Dessert

That killer heat wave may have broken, but summer's a long way from over.

Want something cold? How about Tasti D-Lite frozen dessert. It's not frozen yogurt and it's not ice cream. It is dairy-based, though, using non-fat milk. All of their more than 100 flavors are therefore low-fat.

Although they use sugar instead of artificial sweeteners, Tasti D-Lite is fairly low calorie, between 11 and 17 calories per fluid ounce, depending on the flavor. All the flavors are Kosher-certified. And anything with peanut butter is a favorite among the flavors.

That's all good news. Now here's something even better: because it adds lactase to its non-fat milk it claims to have "at least 25% less lactose than the leading soft-serve ice cream."

Tasti D-Lite is found mostly in the New York metro areas, but now has locations in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, and Texas, as well as Syracuse and Ithaca in upstate New York.

Tasti D-Lite is not for vegans or those with dairy protein allergies, obviously, but it sounds like a fine alternative for those of us who are mildly lactose intolerant.

Homeopathy = Lactose PIlls

Homeopathy is bunk. It's a fraud, a scam, a hoax, a means to make money from people in need. Spare me your letters about how studies have proved that homeopathic medicines work: those studies have been discredited.

The reason I tackle it here is lactose–related. Turns out that homeopathic pills don't have any medicine in them, but they do have lactose. Nearly pure lactose at that.

From Alternative Medicine and the Laws of Physics, by Robert L. Park, which first appeared in the September/October 1997 issue of The Skeptical Inquirer.

I recently examined the dilutions listed on the labels of dozens of standard homeopathic remedies sold over the counter in health stores, and increasingly in drug stores, as remedies for everything from nervousness to flu. These remedies are normally in the form of lactose tablets on which a single drop of the "diluted" medication has been placed. …

The notation 30X means the 1:10 dilution, followed by succussion, is repeated thirty times. That results in one part in 1030, or 1 followed by thirty zeroes. I don't know what the name for that number is, but let me put it this way: you would need to take some two billion pills, a total of about a thousand tons of lactose, to expect to get even one molecule of the medication. In other words, the pills contain nothing but lactose and the inevitable impurities. This is literally no-medicine medicine.

No-medicine medicine. A good name for it. For those of us with lactose intolerance, however, a better name would be Lactose Pills.

Avoid them at all costs.


(If anyone can show that the practices of the homeopathic industry with regards to lactose have changed since 1997, that's information I'll be happy to post.)

200 Best Lactose-Free Recipes

There are only a dozen or so cookbooks featuring lactose-free recipes. I know them all. I have them listed on my website, in my Milk-Free Bookstore on the Milk- and Lactose-Free Books page.

You could have knocked me over with a cow full of soy milk, therefore, when I walked into a library and found a book I had never heard of.

The book was 200 Best Lactose-Free Recipes, by Jan Main. She doesn't actually have lactose intolerance herself, but she does suffer from dairy allergies, so the dairy-free concept is important to her. It's got the latest and trendiest recipes. Back in 1978, when I first learned I was lactose intolerant I wouldn't have had any idea what in the world to do with a recipe called "Kale Tart with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts." And health info is all over the place. Each recipe has its nutritional value calculations, along with percentage of calories from proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.

Most of the recipes aren't too hard to figure out: you substitute lactose-free milk or soy milk for regular milk. Well, it's a little more complicated than that. Main writes:

Tofu and soy milk both have a bland, flat flavor. When I worked with them in the recipes, I found it necessary to add more spices or herbs than I would have if I had been using a milk product. If you try to adapt some of your own recipes, remember that you cannot substitute soy milk or tofu directly for milk or milk products and expect exactly the same taste results. The soy foods seem to absorb flavorings. However, once additional flavoring is added, the recipe should be tasty.

In the case of soy milk, it may be necessary to add ingredients with more color or to add a garnish to compensate for the beige color of the dishes.

That's the kind of insight that makes lactose-free cookbooks invaluable.

PCRM Loses Nutty Anti-Milk Case in Court

The rabidly anti-milk activist group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is back in the news, but not in a way they like.

Last year I wrote this blog entry about them.

Hey, here's an idea. If you're LI and don't like it, sue. Sue who? Why not sue the dairy industry?

Nutty? Of course. But as a publicity stunt it's top notch, if you're a group with an agenda.

The group is the rabidly pro-animal rights and militantly vegan Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). Since they're based in the District of Columbia, they plan to file suit against dairy producers on behalf of D.C. residents who are lactose intolerant. They're asking for compensation for lactose intolerant children, along with adults who've learned that they're LI in the past three years. The other part of the suit – and the obvious real goal, as the compensation issue stands no chance – is a court order mandating that warning labels about lactose intolerance be placed on milk sold in the city.

For more publicity they've plastered the Metro rail and subway system with spoof ads of the Got Milk? campaign. The Got Lactose Intolerance? ads picture a multi-ethnic group of sufferers knocking on the door of an in-use bathroom, needing desperately to get in. And let's face it, which of us with LI hasn't been there?

One problem is that there's a big difference between choosing to avoid or limit the use of dairy products and suing the dairy industry because milk is inherently evil. Another problem is trying to take sides with two groups which are both pushing agendas using misleading data and false claims.

Oops. The Washington Post reported that:

U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. ruled that federal law on food labeling would preclude the action that the plaintiffs were seeking in the District.

The judge dismissed the lawsuit. PCRM issued a statement that they will appeal the ruling.

My prediction? That will get dismissed as well.

Stop Breastfeeding After Seven Months?

A quick follow-up to last Friday's post, Breastfed Babies Avoid Allergies.

In that post I reported on research that said that breastfeeding a baby for the first six months reduced the chance of later allergies.

However, an article, Breast Is best, but watch out for the allergies by Matt Kaplan in the August 5, 2006 issue of New Scientist adds an unusual caveat.

Researchers at the Helsinki Skin and Allergy Hospital in Finland have been conducting a twenty-year-long study of mothers who breastfed their babies as long as possible. The children were assessed for allergies at ages 5, 11 and 20.

Exclusive breastfeeding for nine months or more actually appeared to increase the chances of a baby developing allergic conditions such as eczema and food hypersensitivity. At age 5, 56 per cent of children with a family history of allergy who had been breastfed for nine months or more had allergic symptoms, compared with 20 per cent of those who had been breastfed for between two and six months.

The researchers noticed that children who developed allergies after prolonged exclusive breastfeeding were most likely to do so during the first years of life, suggesting that environmental factors such as pollen exposure, diet and disease are the more important factors in the onset of allergies in later childhood and early adulthood.

"A beautiful hypothesis is that there is a time window when the immune system needs to be exposed to external antigens for it to develop properly," says team member Maria Pesonen, although more research is needed to be sure.

Until more research is done, mothers may want to think about stopping exclusive breastfeeding at about the seventh month and start introducing solid foods.

Tofutti Summer and Year Round

Oh to be in Michigan now that summer's here.

Battle Creek, more specifically. Ice Cream Ecstasy, to be precise. The Battle Creek Enquirer tells us that the store carries Tofutti brand non-dairy "ice cream" for those of us who are lactose intolerant.

Tofutti is one of the granddaddies of non-dairy products. Started by David Mintz in 1982 to give those who kept kosher a neutral, pareve, product to have with meat, Tofutti has grown over the years to have possibly the largest range of non-dairy products of any company in the market.

Clicking the "Our Products" link at www.tofutti.com takes you to a page that has a dozen categories to click on: Pints / Cuties / Too Too’s / Sticks / Cakes, Cookies, Pastries / Better Than Cream Cheese / Non Hydrogenated / Sour Supreme / Low Carb / Hard Cheese / Entrees / Egg Watchers. There are five varieties of Tofutti "ice cream" in pints alone.

Tofutti uses soy as its base, so people with soy allergies do need to avoid it. However, those with dairy allergies or are vegans, along with those who have lactose intolerance or are looking for pareve foods, can feast. And Tofutti products are available at most supermarkets, so there's no need to make a special trip to find them.

Contact info:
TOFUTTI BRANDS, INC.
50 Jackson Drive
Cranford, NJ.07016
Phone: 908-272-2400
Fax: 908-272-9492
Info@tofutti.com
Frequently Asked Questions

A Lactose Intolerant Superhero?

I started reading Marvel Comics with Fantastic Four #8, back in 1963. I had already been reading comic books for years, with Superman and Batman as my heroes, even though those books were going through the worst period of their 60-year history. I was too young to know or care. But the Fantastic Four looked and sounded nothing like the DC heroes. I started sporadically buying Marvel. I wasn't hooked immediately, though. I remember one time that I was sick and asked my father to buy me a Superman comic when he went to the pharmacy to pick up some medicine. Somehow he returned with the first issue of some new comic called Spider-Man. It was so totally awful that I traded it away for a 25¢ DC Giant, and was very proud of myself.

Despite that, I soon became one of the Marvel fanatics and stopped buying DC comics entirely. As I got older and learned more about how comics were put together I worshipped the amazing Stan Lee, someone who could write 8 – 10 full comic books every month and make each of them special, exciting, funny, and chock-full of ideas.

Poor Stan. He didn't know what he was starting, or that his life would be taken over by cheesier and cheesier versions of his galactic-level ideas. Now he's the host of Who Wants to Be a Superhero? If you've somehow missed the endless promos, that's a reality show on the Sci-Fi channel, in which a dozen idiots in underwear are competing to be the star of a comic book and movie based on their character. And one of them is one of us, as explained in this article from the San Bernardino Sun.

By contrast, Major Victory's abilities seem to be limited to speaking in a deep bass voice reminiscent of a caffeinated radio announcer and filling out his red spandex uniform. Watters admits his character has his drawbacks: "I have a hearing loss, I'm lactose intolerant and have bad athlete's foot.''

And if you think that makes him weak and helpless, he'll be in even worse shape if he wins:

"The winner has no rights: You should see the contract our lawyers drew up,'' Lee says with a cackle.

Even superheroes, it seems, are powerless against attorneys.

Even lactase pills can't alleviate that horrible a symptom.

Breastfed Babies Avoid Allergies

Breastfeed your baby.

Seriously. It's important. Breastfeeding is not just healthier, it helps children avoid allergy problems, according to a consensus statement on infant feeding released this week by the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). Solid foods of all types should be avoided for the first six months, and certain items -- like cow's milk, eggs, fish, and nuts -- should not be introduced until even later. The consensus statement is published in the July issue of the organization's journal, Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

The committee also made the following recommendations, as listed on WebMD.com:

• Staple foods, such as fruits, vegetables, meats, soy, and cereal be introduced "individually and gradually" to lessen allergy risk.

• Mixed foods containing a variety of potentially allergenic foods should be avoided until the baby's tolerance to each ingredient is known.

• Beef, vegetables, and fruits should initially be given in the form of prepared baby foods that are cooked and homogenized. Studies suggest these processed foods are less likely to cause allergies than their fresh counterparts.

One big question remains: if breastfeeding is so important, why are Americans – including American women – hysterical over seeing a nursing breast?

The magazine babytalk featured a photo of a baby nursing on its August 2006 cover. No nipple can even be seen. Just the baby and a round lump of flesh that we know to be a breast only through logic.

Yet an article by AP's Jocelyn Noveck, found at SFGate.com, revealed that the women, mothers!, who are the magazine's audience went bananas over the cover.

"I was SHOCKED to see a giant breast on the cover of your magazine," one person wrote. "I immediately turned the magazine face down," wrote another. "Gross," said a third. ...

One mother who didn't like the cover explains she was concerned about her 13-year-old son seeing it.

"I shredded it," said Gayle Ash, of Belton, Texas, in a telephone interview. "A breast is a breast -- it's a sexual thing. He didn't need to see that." …

"Gross, I am sick of seeing a baby attached to a boob," wrote Lauren, a mother of a 4-month-old.

I guess we'll be seeing more babies with bottles of formula in their mouths in the future. And more allergies after that. And the mothers will wonder why.

Breastfeed your baby. And do it in public. Often. If everybody does it, people will stop noticing or caring. And everybody will win.

Allergen-Free Recipe Column Debuts on Lime.com

Cybele Pascal emailed to tell me that she has a new allergy-free recipe column on lime.com.

Who's Cybele Pascal? Here's her bio:

Hi! I'm the author of the award winning best-seller, The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook: 200 Gourmet and Homestyle Recipes for the Food Allergic Family, the first cookbook to eliminate all 8 allergens responsible for 90% of food allergies. While being diagnosed with food allergies can feel like the end of your gastronomic party, I'm living proof, that a restricted diet does not mean deprivation. After my son Lennon was diagnosed with multiple food allergies in 2001, I had to change many of the ingredients I cooked with, but I never stopped making the same kinds of recipes. And it has become my goal to provide delicious allergen-free versions of just about any recipe you can imagine for the 12 million Americans living with food allergies, so that no-one need ever feel deprived. I have found my way around using the top 8 food allergens (dairy, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish) with delicious and healthy results. No challenge is too daunting, except perhaps a cheese soufflé!

She maintains a blog here on blogspot, called The Whole Food Allergy Cookbook.

To see if these recipes are for you, check out this dairy-free variation of a normally dairy-filled standard: Allergen-free, Gluten-free Pasta with Roast Cherry Tomatoes, Grilled Chicken, and Pesto. She suggests grilled tofu as a substitute for the chicken for vegans. Those with lactose intolerance or dairy protein allergy can try it either way.

Healthy portions are smaller than normal-sized ones, but I do wonder about a recipe that serves 8 calling for only 1 pound of chicken and 1 pound of rice or pasta. That's 2 ounces of each per person. Even I don't eat that little at a meal and I can make a standard restaurant serving last through two take-home portions. The accompanying picture surely has a larger serving than that.

The other big problem is lime.com itself. On its About Us page it says:

LIME brings multi-platform programming to the next generation of media consumers who want to live smarter, more connected, and more exciting lives. But you can enjoy LIME even if you don't own every latest gadget, because LIME fits into your life, your way. You can find us wherever you want us.

That means LIME Television, LIME Radio, LIME Online, LIME On Demand, LIME Mobile, and LIME podcasts-so far. DVDs, books, and lifestyle products are on the way, and as new technologies come along, LIME will be there too.

Sound like a lot? Well, picture this. You can watch a two-minute LIME video online from Deepak Chopra with your morning coffee, read a quick news story in between diaper changes on your cell phone, and then try out a healthy new recipe from LIME over the weekend on LIME TV or laugh out loud while listening to a LIME Radio podcast.

Somebody is putting in a lot of money. And getting very little out. None of the links on that page to Lime services work.

My bet is that you won't find lime.com around next year. So start printing out those recipes now.

Cheezly "Super-Melting" Soy Cheese

People who like cheese love to torture the stuff. Put it in ovens. Melt it over foods. Cheese isn't cheese unless it's bending and twisting and slopping all over the place.

But you what makes cheese melt? The dairy protein casein. That's why even many soy "cheeses" aren't vegan and can't be eaten by those with dairy protein allergies. True non-dairy cheese doesn't melt like the real stuff.

So it's little wonder that all the vegan sites in the U.K. went suddenly limp when the Redwoods Company announced its Cheezly "super-melting" soy cheese in 2004.

The award-winning Redwood Company has extended its popular Cheezly range of dairy-free ‘cheeses’ with five new super-melting varieties.

Described as ‘heaven on toast’ by one reviewer, Redwood’s tasty new ‘cheeses’ include super-melting Cheddar and Mozzarella style slices, as well as blocks in Edam, Gouda and Mozzarella flavours.
Soya-based and gluten-free, Redwood’s new super-melting ‘cheeses’ are perfect for vegetarians and vegans as well as people with special dietary needs, including those who are lactose intolerant or have wheat allergies.

“What makes these cheese alternatives stand out is that they not only taste good, they also melt well when cooked,” says Redwood director Keith Stott. “This marks a major technological breakthrough.”

Redwood’s new super-melting ‘cheeses’ are ideal for use in sandwiches, in dishes such as lasagne, on toast and in omelettes, cheese sauces and fondues. They can also be melted on top of pizzas and grated over jacket potatoes.

Other ‘cheeses’ in Redwood’s Cheezly range include Cheezly with Garlic, Cheddar Style Cheezly with added bacon-style pieces – which is flavoured with Redwood’s award-winning veggie ‘bacon’ – and traditional Red and White Cheddar Styles.

Available in selected supermarkets, good health food stores or from Redwood’s online shop (www.redwoodfoods.co.uk).

The Cheezly page has even more good claims:

If you love cheese but can't or won't eat dairy, Cheezly is for you. A really tasty alternative to cheese, Cheezly is TOTALLY free from animal ingredients. So it's perfect for vegetarians and vegans, as well as people who are lactose or casein intolerant. What's more, there are no nasties. Cheezly is also free from hydrogenated fats, gluten*, artificial colours/preservatives, cholesterol and GMOs. It comes in all manner of flavours and styles including award-winning new super melting varieties. (* except White Cheddar with bacon-style pieces)

Another breakthrough from Europe. C'mon, U.S. food scientists. Get back in those labs and cook us up something dairy free and tasty for the home market.

Stuck on You Allergy Packs

Every once in a while you come across one of those great slap-your-forehead why-didn't-I-think-of-that ideas. Stuck on You is just that kind of site.

The Australian company makes stick on labels of all sorts that you can iron or sew on your kids clothes.

Iron On Labels, Clothing Labels & Kids Labels

With our clothing labels and other personalised kids labels your kids will never lose their belongings again! Stuck On You produce an all Australian made range of vinyl stick-on or fabric iron-on labels. They're bright and easy to read with fun icons to choose from. Our quality vinyls, fabrics and adhesives are second to none so our labels stay put in the dishwasher, microwave or washing machine. Kids love them for their designs, Mums love them for their practicality. Innovative shoe labels, pencil labels and bag tags ensure your kids are sorted from childcare to school and sporting club.

When it comes to birthdays, Christmas or a special occasion, the Stuck on You range of personalised notepads are a fantastic gift idea. Choose from 16 brilliant and colourful designs, whether you're into fairies, rockets, surfing or butterflies - there's something for everyone. Stuck on You Skinprints are colourful non-toxic tattoos, they're easy to apply and easy to remove, a hit with kids and adults alike! Brightly coloured Gift labels put an end to buying gift cards and are much better value for money, peel and stick the label to any gift.

Best of all, from our point of view, is their allergy packs. For $44.95 you get:

• 50 sticky dots that say "I'm a Dairy-free Kid" (Nut-Free and Egg-Free packs also available).
• 50 "create your own" labels with the dairy-free icon.
• 12 "I'm a Dairy-Free Kid" Stick with Me wrist bands
• 1 allergy-free bag top with the dairy-free icon.

All labels are in red, one name per pack.

It's dairy allergy-oriented, obviously, but the I'm a Dairy-Free Kid slogan works for kids with lactose intolerance or other milk-related problems as well.

The site is international, with separate versions for Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, United Arab, Emirates, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom, USA, France, and "Others." Each page is in the appropriate language.

Navigating the site is not particularly easy, unfortunately. To get to the allergy pack you have to:

1) double click on the country of your choice
2) double click on the menu bar that reads "stuck on you value packs"
3) click on the menu bar that read "stuck on you allergy pack"
4) double click on the cow icon for a dairy pack
5) change the number of packs that you want from 0 to a number so that the form to fill out the information appears.

I was never sure whether I had to click or double click. Just persevere.

It's ugly design, but it gets you there in the end. It's a little late in the end to grab these for camp, but the stick-ons are good for the whole school year and for any traveling.

A great idea. Let me know if you find it works for you.

So Good Soy Cones

Canada knows from cold, and so you might think that they'd know from frozen desserts too.

So far, So Good. Exactly. Vancouver's SoyaWorld makes a whole line of dairy-free, lactose-free, and casein-free soy products under the So Good brand.

New this summer are cones with their So Good frozen dessert in chocolate and vanilla.

So Good Non-Dairy Frozen Cones have two delicious flavours that will have you asking for more. The rich flavours will satisfy all of your cravings. The So Good Non-Dairy Frozen Cones are low in saturated fat and free of lactose and cholesterol.

You can also get five flavors – Boysenberry Swirl, Butterscotch Swirl, Chocolate Supreme, Creamy Vanilla, and Simply Strawberry, in 945 ml cartons.

You can find the company on the net at SoGoodBeverage.com. Or use any of the following ways to get in touch.

E-mail: consumer@soyaworld.com

Mailing Address:

SoyaWorld Inc.
P.O. Box 3018
Vancouver, B.C.
V6B 3X5

Toll-Free Consumer Services Line: 1-888-401-0019

Study May Lead to Better Food Allergy Test

Here's major news for those who might be suffering from dairy allergies.

Allergy testing today is difficult and invasive. Some tests don't work very well, leading to false positives – those who are told they have an allergy when they don't – and false negatives – those who are told they don't have an allergy when they do. And skin pricks and food challenges are uncomfortable at best.

Amazingly, a test that involves no more than identifying a protein from stool samples may be possible, according to a paper that was published in the July 2006 issue of the medical journal Gastroenterology.

The paper was published under the ungainly title of "Transcytosis of IgE–Antigen Complexes by CD23a in Human Intestinal Epithelial Cells and Its Role in Food Allergy," by Hongxing Li, Anna Nowak–Wegrzyn, Zachary Charlop–Powers, Wayne Shreffler, Mirna Chehade, Sunil Thomas, Giulia Roda, Stephanie Dahan, Kirk Sperber, and M. Cecilia Berin.

A translation for the jargon-challenged can be found at MedicalNewsToday.com.

Food allergies often present a unique problem for allergy testing since not every patient has detectable levels of immunoglobulin E (IgE) in their serum, especially patients with delayed allergies. A number of reliable testing methods exist for food and other allergies, including skin tests and serum IgE tests, however, they may not accurately diagnose food allergies. The oral food challenge is considered the most accurate test for food allergies but is expensive to administer and has to be done in a controlled environment. Immunoglobulin (antibody) E is a protein produced by plasma cells (or B-Cells , a type of lymphocyte ), which is designed to control the immune response in extracellular fluids by binding to substances in the body that are recognized as foreign.

The study, conducted at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, showed for the first time that CD23, a protein normally expressed in a person's intestinal tract, acts as a receptor for IgE, a protein associated with allergic reactions, and enables it to participate in food-allergic reactions.

"We believe that the presence of CD23 may provide a surrogate method of looking at the gut without invasive tests like biopsies," according to M. Cecilia Berin, PhD, assistant professor, pediatrics/allergy and immunology, Mount Sinai and lead author of the study….

Researchers collected stool samples from nine pediatric patients (age range three to 17 years) who underwent an oral food challenge, during which they were administered either egg or milk in a controlled environment. All patients had a history of allergies to these foods and had reacted positively through other testing methods. Their symptoms, which occurred less than two hours after the food challenge, included skin reactions, breathing problems and gastrointestinal problems or a combination. They were matched to five pediatric controls with no food allergies.

It was a small scale study of just a few young patients, so the results are extremely preliminary, but they are promising.

Better tests have been needed for years, but allergies are so tricky and manifest in so many different ways that a general test has always been out of reach. Whether that's truly changed or whether this is an unfortunately blind alley will take several more years of testing. If it does work, however, it'll be the best news in the allergy field for some time.

More Dairy Debate

Similar to yesterday's post, Udder Confusion is a UK article from The Independent newspaper, "The Dairy Debate." [Archieved here.]

It also lists various pros and cons about dairy. And one section is especially important for those who want to stay away for the white stuff:

How to stay healthy without milk
There are plenty of non-dairy sources of calcium. The major ones are dark green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, kale, spring greens, cabbage, bok choy and watercress. Dried fruits, such as figs (250mg calcium per six figs) will also increase your calcium intake. Eat them alongside seeds and nuts, particularly almonds and brazils, sesame seeds and tahini (which contains a massive 680mg of calcium per 100g), and you'l definitely be covering your calcium RDA (800mg). Pulses, including soya beans, kidney beans, chick peas, baked beans, broad beans, lentils, peas and calcium-set tof (500mg calcium per 250g) are also good sources of calcium. Most nutritionists agree that pulses, tofu and regular servings of fish can amply make up the protein content in any dairy-free diet.

There's also an extensive range of dairy substitutes to choose from. Milk alternatives range from soya to oat and rice milk, and there's a range of non-dairy cheeses made from soya and tofu. Many margarines are dairy free. Good brands include Pure and Suma, which make soya and sunflower spreads, and Biona, which makes an organic olive spread. You can also find dairy-free yogurts and ice creams, and even chocolate, made from dairy substitutes such as soya and hemp.

Udder Confusion

The respected UC Berkeley Wellness Letter is a good place to find down-the-middle information on both sides of medical "controversies," even if the controversies are sometimes just propaganda masquerading as science.

The article Udder Confusion looks at many of the myths that have grown up around milk. Here's a couple of the most pertinent debunkings of interest to those of us who are lactose intolerant or have dairy allergies.

Claim: Milk boosts mucus production in the throat.

Facts: The scientific evidence says no. This myth may persist because of whole milk's thick consistency and because it may coat the mouth briefly. In one Australian study, subjects (many of them believers in the milk-mucus link) were given either chocolate-flavored cow's milk or an indistinguishable soy milk. About one-third of them reported that the cow's milk coated their tongue and throat, made them swallow a lot, and/or made their saliva feel thicker. But a similar proportion of those who drank the soy milk reported these same sensations, so the dairy product wasn't to blame. If you don't like the way whole milk coats your tongue, or if it feels as if it makes mucus hard to swallow, this is yet another reason to switch to low-fat or nonfat milk.

Claim: People who have problems digesting lactose can eat or drink no dairy products.

Facts: Many people who believe they can't digest any lactose (milk sugar) without bloating and discomfort are not really lactose-intolerant. Moreover, as we've reported, studies show that even those who truly are lactose-intolerant are able to digest a cup or two of milk a day, if consumed at meals, with few if any symptoms. Beyond that, they can turn to lactose-reduced milk (store-bought or homemade).

But be sure to read the rest of the article to check out the other myths and mythinformation that they properly squelch.

Tony's Lactose Free Cookbook

While I'm talking about the UK, I need to put in a mention for Tony's Lactose Free Cookbook, by Professor Anthony K Campbell and Stephanie B Matthews.

The website tells us that the book includes:

• Tony’s remarkable story
• What is lactose, lactase and lactose intolerance?
• Why 4000 million people can’t digest lactose properly
• The scandal of ‘hidden’ lactose in food and drink
• How to tell if you or your family are lactose intolerant
• Tables and figures with vital facts and scientific data about lactose

• Over 100 mouth watering recipes for starters, main courses and desserts
• Tony’s cooking tips, as well as do's and dont's
• A wine suggestion with every dish
• Soya and milk substitutes

• The extraordinary explanation of the illness that affected Charles Darwin for over 40 years
• How this story is going to revolutionise modern medicine

• A comprehensive reading list
• Colour photos of some of the recipes
• Useful web sites
• A bibliography for further reading

The Welston Press appears to be their own self-publishing empire, almost all of it about lactose. Ones that we would be most interested in include:

Other publications
• Anthony Campbell and Stephanie Matthews (2001). Lactose intolerance and the MATHS:syndrome: what are they and how can I cope? Pp 32. Welston Press, Pembrokeshire. ISSN 1474-6794, ISBN 0-9540866-0-0). Available now.

• Stephanie Matthews and Anthony Campbell. The hundred commonly asked questions in the lactose intolerance clinic. Available 2006.

Key references
• Matthews SB, Campbell AK. Lactose Intolerance in the Young: A New Perspective. Welsh Paediatric J. 2004; 20:56-66.

• Matthews SB, Waud J, Roberts A and Campbell AK (2005). Systemic lactose intolerance: a new perspective on an old problem. Post Grad. Med. J. 81:167-183.

You can't seem to place a direct electronic order for any of the books at the Welston Press site, but it should easily be available.

All publications are available from the Windsor Bookshop.

Cheques in pounds sterling only please, made payable to ‘Windsor Bookshop’ and sent to:

Windsor Bookshop
9a Windsor Road
Penarth
Vale of Glamorgan
CF64 1JB
UK

Tel: +44 (0)29 2070 6455 FAX: +44 (0)29 2070 6177

Email: windsorbooks@hotmail.com

Online ordering: Windsor Bookshop

You can also get it directly from amazon.co.uk but not amazon.com.

I thought that I had added this book to my site a long time ago, but possibly I heard about it before it was available and then let it slip my mind. Thanks to Georgina for reminding me. I think - there goes my memory again - that this is the first UK lactose intolerance book of any kind, so it's a major step from them over there.

Allergen Guidelines in the UK to Make Foods Safer

When I learned I was lactose intolerant (LI) in 1978, I had literally never heard the term before. That was just a few years after the notion that the vast majority of human beings on the planet were in fact LI hit the medical world like a grant-funding bombshell. In the 1970s doctors went to every corner of the earth to test native and ethnic populations, discovering high percentages of lactose intolerance everywhere except for northern Europe.

In the 1980s, products aimed at the lactose intolerant begin hitting store shelves in the U.S. Lactaid pills were the big breakthrough in 1984, although Lactaid powder and a few other small brands were there first. In the 1990s, Lactaid and Dairy Ease went head-to-head on television with multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, making lactose intolerance known to just about everybody.

In the U.S., that is. In the U.K. and much of the rest of Europe, the explosion never took place. No big ad campaigns combined with a much smaller percentage of the public who were genetically LI meant that the issue never quite gained any prominence.

And that also meant one other major distinction. The U.K. government never required changes in the labeling laws that forced food and drug manufacturers to list all potential cross-contamination factors, similar to the The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act that went into effect in the U.S. on January 1, 2006.

Georgina sent me an email from the U.K. in which she said:

One of the main problems I have found in the UK is you can get caught out very easily. They may be better in the US, but here the food industry is very bad at labelling foods. It is improving slowly but they seem to add lactose to almost everything and not put it on the ingredient, or they label it as sugar or whey, salt and vinegar crisps for instance and even the birth control pill. The information on your site is very interesting because when I asked my pharmacist for a lactose free pill they claimed there wasn’t one and on some pills, because it is not an active ingredient, it is just labelled as a filler!

The timing is great because there's news. The U.K.'s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has just issued a report, Guidance on Allergen Management and Consumer Information: Best Practice Guidance on Managing Food Allergens with Particular Reference to Avoiding Cross-Contamination and Using Appropriate Advisory Labels (e.g. "May Contain Labelling), a cheery 63 pages of bureaucratic lawyer-proof guidance.

FoodNavigator.com summarizes the report's import:

The allergen management and advisory labelling guidance, which is voluntary, uses examples of 'best practice' to help businesses of all sizes provide appropriate advisory labels that are clearer for consumers to understand.

It is also designed to help businesses assess the risk of cross-contamination with allergens.

"Up to 1.5 million people in the UK have food allergies, and it is vital that they are fully informed about the contents of the foods they are buying," said Sue Hattersley, head of the FSA's food allergy branch.

"Advisory labelling should only be used when, following a thorough risk assessment, there is a real risk of allergen cross-contamination. Excessive use of warning labels about the possible presence of allergens, can restrict consumer choice and devalue the impact of warning labels."

Indeed, the agency claims that a variety of warnings such as 'may contain nuts' are used so widely on pre-packed foods that many consumers are unable to assess the risks and simply ignore them. Unlike the situation for deliberately added ingredients, there are no statutory controls governing the labelling of the possible presence of allergens due to cross-contamination of foods along the supply chain.

These recommendations will take current regulations one step farther:

Allergen labelling regulations that came into force on 25 November require companies to label all pre-packed foods if they contain any of the 12 listed allergenic foods as an ingredient. The mandatory inclusion on food labels of the most common food allergen ingredients and their derivatives covers cereals containing gluten, fish, crustaceans, egg, peanut, soybeans, milk and dairy products including lactose, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame seed, and sulphites.

As a result of these consumer concerns, the UK free-from food market, including dairy-, gluten- and wheat-free products, is set to double, according to market analyst Mintel. …

Meanwhile, dairy-free products are valued at £32 million, with sales of products such as soy milk and yoghurts growing by 28 per cent over the same three year period.

You can also take a look at the numbers I posted in April in "Free From" Foods Grow in Sales.

What are the practical implications of these regulations for consumers like Georgina? Mark Tyler and Jessica Burt wrote the following for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. Registration is required for the full article.

The guidance also provides a useful breakdown of measures relating to "allergen free" claims. A positive claim (e.g. gluten free) is often regarding by consumers as meaning a guarantee of a complete absence; whereas usually this only means that samples of the food were shown to be below the analytical limit of detection for that allergen on one or more occasion. The FSA confirm that appropriate limits for a claim that a product is free from a particular allergen can be set. It is also stated that if manufacturers produce lists of foods free from particular allergens, these should be regularly reviewed and updated.

An example of the potential pitfalls of "allergen free" labelling may be found earlier this year in relation to the nutritional information providing by McDonalds on their french fries, which stated they were dairy, wheat and gluten free. This was amended, to much public outcry and threatened lawsuits, and then reversed after further testing. Food producers need to be aware that as soon as a positive assertion is made it is their responsibility to substantiate this claim, check that food complies with it and keep this under regular review; in particular in respect of changing suppliers, processes and testing methods.

The provision of an incorrect claim would open a food producer up to potential food safety and consumer protection litigation as well as potential damage to brand reputation. The making of an allergen free claim is therefore a commercial decision for each food producer based on an appropriately documented quality system. To this end, the guidance on allergen management and consumer information will be a useful practice to follow to illustrate best practice in due diligence.

While it appears that the lawyers will be arguing "best practice" for the foreseeable future, guidance such as this will make a significant difference for those with dairy allergy, among other allergies, and those who have problems with lactose. And with both the U.S. and U.K. moving in this direction, it wouldn't surprise me if the European Union were shortly to follow. Some bureaucracy really is good for everybody.

Myths About Lactose Intolerance

Since I complain so loudly when people get the facts about lactose intolerance wrong, it's only fair that I compliment the ones who get them right.

The Daily Advertiser of Lafayette, LA, published an unfortunately uncredited article, Learn the truth about lactose intolerance, that debunked some common myths about LI and also gave a list of "Easy Ways to Enjoy Milk and Milk Products If You're Lactose Intolerant."

All the advice is straight from the book (i.e. my book: Milk Is Not for Every Body) so it looks good. And they credit the information to the LSU AgCenter, which means that even doctors, notoriously slow to understand LI, have finally caught on.

Good work, all.

Vegan World Fusion Cuisine

Next time you happen to be passing through Hawaii (is that four subway stops or five)…

Who am I kidding? Getting to Europe from upstate New York is ten times easier - and cheaper – than traveling to Hawaii. So a visit to Mark Reinfeld's Blossoming Lotus restaurants and his ideas of Vegan Fusion cuisine isn't likely to happen real soon. (Though maybe the one in Portland, OR, or the one coming soon to Mountain View, CA.)

What I really liked is the ideas in Jeff Yang's article on SFGate.com musing about what is needed to attract people to vegan foods, using Reinfeld's restaurants as a launching pad.

Unfortunately, for those of us used to the ways of the flesh, the vegan path is a difficult one to walk. I have my share of veggie friends and relatives -- Hindus, Buddhists and health junkies -- and I've tried to make the transition. But meat and dairy, like any other delightfully unhealthy addiction, are hard habits to break, and the vegan equivalent of nicotine patches -- the meat and dairy substitutes that vegans call analogues -- are consistent in that they provide an experience that's almost totally unlike the products they're trying to emulate. (In fact, the only thing that doesn't taste like chicken when you cook it is vegan "chikken.")

There are other problems with analogues. As anyone who's ever eaten at a Buddhist-style Chinese restaurant knows, the art and science of getting things that are not meat to look, feel and taste like meat often involves saturating perfectly good vegetable matter with sodium, fats and nitrates. And at the end of the day, there's something a bit dubious about going vegan but relying excessively on the crutch of "veat." ...

[At the restaurants] It's all market-fresh fare prepared according to strict vegan principles, incorporating a diverse and cross-pollinated variety of cooking styles and flavors. The vegan world fusion palette intersperses Asian ingredients from Indian, Thai, Chinese and Japanese food traditions with those of Greek, Italian and Tex-Mex cuisine. Though the names of the dishes are familiar (spanakopita, burritos, pasta and spring rolls all make an appearance), the focus is on flavor rather than verisimilitude: Analogues are used sparingly, though the references to "cheez" and "mylk" still pop up on occasion. …

Good vegan food is something totally different -- inspired by carnivore cuisine but in a category unto itself, a bold variation on the theme. And that, ultimately, is Blossoming Lotus's big magical secret. …

"At the end of the day, we want to offer this option as just another alternative," says [Reinfeld's partner] Zingaro. "We're not asking you to 'convert.' We're not preaching to you. It's really great food -- enjoy it! And maybe if you enjoy it enough, you'll make the decision to go vegan on your own."

That's the right philosophy, and one that all of the pioneers trying to develop dairy-free versions of foods should take to heart. I don't eat bad versions of "normal" food: I make my own dishes designed not to need dairy to taste right. Dairy-free isn't a punishment. It's an excuse to release your creativity. If you're lactose intolerant, or allergic, or vegan, pamper your taste buds with fresh foods and creative combinations. Or at least seek out those who do it well.

Slice Non-Dairy Pizza

Yet another restaurant featuring specialty non-dairy food? Could it be a… revolution?

Nah. But compared to zero anything is still nice to have.

The latest entry into the pizza wars is Slice, in New York City. According to the article by Anita Malik in EastWest Magazine Slice is the brainchild of "Miki Agrawal, a former semi-professional soccer player who has been on a quest to eat her favorite foods despite being lactose intolerant."

The menu features Slice’s proven pizza combinations or patrons can opt to put together their own pie, choosing from three healthy crusts – honey whole wheat, spelt and unbleached herb. There are also several organic, homemade sauces, organic and/or dairy-free cheeses and creative toppings such as tofu, sautéed veggies — including broccoli and caramelized onions — and organic free-range chicken.

“It is pizza that tastes good and is good for you,” Agrawal says while noting that most of the pizza made in the market today contains bleached flour and ingredients she says are full of fat and sugar.

Organic and low fat is definitely not a novel concept. A chicken and organic mozzarella pizza, for example, seems likely to fly with today’s consumers. But what about Slice’s vegan options? Can the concept of pies made with dairy-free cheeses really catch on? Agrawal says yes, adding that the statistics reveal a great need for what Slice is cutting up.

Followed by the true but thoroughly misleading stat that one in five Americans has lactose intolerance. Sure, but how many of them will eat a soy cheese pizza? Remind me to check back in a year or so and see if Slice is still in business.

In the meantime, Agrawal has some tips at making dairy-free pizza at home:

• When using veggies, sauté first. Don’t put raw veggies on your pizza, cook them first before the pie hits the oven.

• If you are going to use soy or rice cheese, cook the pizza without the cheese first. Put the cheese on only at the end because soy and rice cheeses burn faster due to lower fat content.

• Always keep on eye on your crust when baking. Timing is the key to a great crust.

Slice
1413 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10021
(212) 249-4353
www.sliceperfect.com

Low-Fat Dairy Study Sparks Ignorance by Dairy Haters

One of the hardest things to do in the world of medicine is to determine the role that any one particular food plays in overall health.

Most of these longitudinal epidemiological studies are compromised by trying to tease out one food's effects in the huge range of diets, lifestyles, locations, occupations, and overall health of the respondents. Even the best of these, which may be The Nurses' Health Study, has run afoul of the changing notions of what makes for good health. The nurses, who keep detailed diaries of their food intake along with other habits, couldn't know at the beginning of the study in 1976 that trans fats may be an issue to keep track of. There would have been probably no way to do so if they had.

So I try not to jump on any individual study that proclaims the advantages or disadvantages of milk. I've seen too many of these studies either invalidated or moderated by subsequent reports.

For that reason, I don't set much store in a recent study published in Diabetes Care 2006 Jul;29(7):1579-84., A prospective study of dairy intake and the risk of type 2 diabetes in women, by Liu S, Choi HK, et al.

As Reuters reported, Low-fat dairy may lower women’s diabetes risk: Preliminary research shows trend, mirrors results shown for men:

[Liu and his colleagues] therefore looked for the relationship between type 2 diabetes and dietary levels of dairy foods and calcium in 37,183 women in the Women’s Health Study. A total of 1,603 women developed diabetes during an average follow-up of 10 years.

“The most important finding is that women who consumed more low-fat dairy foods tended to experience a lower risk of type 2 diabetes in a period of 10 years,” Liu told Reuters Health.

…

However, Liu and colleagues caution that further studies are needed to confirm their observations “before public health measures to increase dairy consumption can be recommended for prevention of type 2 diabetes.”

This is medicine at its best. A major long-term study on a population so sizable that comparisons can be made, followed by a caution that even so the results are still preliminary and no general public changes in diet can yet be called for.

So what's the problem?

This. Milk - It Does a Body Good? by Regina Wilshire on commonvoice.com.

Wilshire appears to lack all understanding of how a study such as this operates. The only way to separate out the effects of one particular food or medicine or physical routine is to try to control all the rest of the variables. This is absolutely standard in any epidemiological study. But to Wilshire, this somehow invalidates the results:

When I first started to read through the data, I was struck by just how many confounding factors they "adjusted" to reach their significant findings!

• BMI
• smoking status
• physical activity
• family history of diabetes
• alcohol consumption
• history of hypertension
• use of hormones
• high cholesterol

…

They didn't add IF you're normal weight, don't smoke, are active, don't have a family history of diabetes, drink in moderation, don't have a family history of high blood pressure, aren't using hormones and don't have high cholesterol. Basically, they forgot to add the findings apply to those who are in good health!

Which begs the question - was it the inclusion of dairy or was it an overall better dietary and lifestyle pattern that kept these women in good health?

No it doesn't. Controlling for confounding factors doesn't limit the study to just people in wonderfully good health. It just tries to set one factor against a neutral background.

I hate to say it, but this isn't science. If you ask me, it seems more like a manipulation of data to promote the dairy industry and the consumption of milk and dairy products.

I hate to say it, but Wilshire has let her bias toward milk overcome any understanding of how science works. To her, apparently, if a study comes out in favor of milk it must be wrong.

What is most bothersome is that she may be right for the wrong reasons. As I said in the beginning, and as Liu himself said, one study, even a good study, is not proof, and is most definitely not the last word. There may not be a connection between low-fat dairy foods and lowered risk of diabetes, or the connection may be weak and not applicable to most. If there is a connection, however, than those with lactose intolerance who still consume dairy have to have this important piece of knowledge. It indicates that taking lactase if you are lactose intolerant to retain dairy in the diet is a good road to health.

That is the real issue. Bias for or against a food, especially a hot-button one like milk, should never get in the way of understanding the underlying science. If you don't know enough about medicine to make a knowledgeable critique, don't spread fear and ignorance around the net.

Yogurt, Yoghurt, and Yougurt

I've been advocating yogurt for years as a way to get dairy into your diet for those who are lactose intolerant. The live and active cultures used in yogurt digest the lactose that is in the dairy and render it mostly symptom free. The lactose is then fermented into lactic acid, which gives the tart taste. From Wikipedia:

To be named yoghurt, the product should at least contain the bacteria Streptococcus salivarius ssp thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus official name Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus). Often these are co-cultured with other lactic acid bacteria for either taste or health effects (probiotics). These include L. acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium species.

But I've also warned that modern yogurts in the United States pander to the sweet-lovers among consumers by adding sugar and extra milk products that reduce the benefits of the "good" bacteria. You should also remember that heat-treating or pasteurizing yogurt destroys these bacteria. Always look for the words "live and active" on the package.

Askdrsears.com, run by Dr. Bob Sears, has a great page on yogurt. It includes:

10 Reasons Yogurt is a Top Health Food
How to Buy the Healthiest Yogurt: 5 Tips
5 Ways to Use Yogurt as a Nutritious Substitute
6 Health Benefits of Lactobacteria

I'm tempted to quote at length, but there's too much to excerpt. Go there and read for yourself. For those who are too impatient, here's the skinny: low-sugar is better than high sugar; low-fat is better than high fat; high calcium is better than low calcium; fewer additives are better than more additives. Find the balance of these that tastes best for you, and then enjoy regularly. It'll do all those with lactose intolerance good.

Lactose and Phlegm

Excuse while I bang my head against the wall.

So much misinformation.

I won't give any names, but here's a quote from an actress about problems acting during her pregnancy:

She also had morning sickness but kept it from interfering with her work by eating hourly, mainly the cheese that she craved--problematic because products with lactose can clog the throat.

No they can't. Lactose intolerance affects the intestines. Period.

According to this page, the myth that milk causes phlegm goes back to the writings of the 12th century rabbi, Maimonides, from his treatise On Ashtma. Who knew?

Modern medicine looks at it differently. It may be possible that certain people with cow's milk dairy protein allergies may produce more phlegm. There are a million reactions that allergies can cause.

It's much more likely that you simply don't get more phlegm from milk. You may feel a film if you drink milk, or eat cheese, or you may just have heard the myth and make a false association.

But lactose has nothing, but nothing, to do with it.

Special Diet Meals Available from Disney

The biggest kid-magnet in the universe must be Disney. With 10 million or more kids going through the gates at each Disney resort each year, even a tiny percentage can add up quickly.

Bob Mervine of the Orlando Business Journal reports that Walt Disney World offers a special diets program that can accommodate 15 types of food allergies, kosher meals, and low-sodium meals. The program started in 1993 and now serves 7-8,000 meals a month. You merely request the special meals when making meal reservations.

[Joel Schaefer, manager of the special diets department] works with chefs at each of the hundreds of Disney food locations to provide alternative ingredients that can be used to create allergy-free meals, ranging from soy ice cream to a specially blended batter for the Mickey Mouse-shaped waffles that are a signature breakfast dish.

Disney adds no service fee, even working with families who want to enjoy a buffet by individually preparing the food items the guest selects.

"It's simply a guest service," says Ed Wronski, executive chef for product development in Disney's food and beverage department.

More information about the program is available from All Ears Net.

1. When making an Advance Reservation (1-407-WDW-DINE), alert the Cast Member to your special needs, and they will make a note on the file.

2. Special dietary needs can be accommodated if requested at least 72 hours in advance at 407-WDW-DINE (407-939-3463). [Note: some sites say 24 hours. This site says that the advance time increased in 2005.]

The number at Disneyland is 714-781-DINE (714-781-3463).

At Disneyland Paris call Guest services Tel No: +33- (0)1 60 30 40 50. A food allergies guide is available at:
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/helpFAQ?id=HelpFAQDiningPage