IREAD with interest Why Weight? by Kate Thompson (Daily Echo, April 00). She states the protein casein in milk is hard to digest. She also states this can "give rise to digestive problems and other symptoms such as catarrh, skin rashes, lethargy, irritability, blocked nose and excessive mucus production''.
I was most disappointed to read such negative and misleading comments, as there is no scientific evidence to relate any of the above conditions to the digestion of casein.
Dairy foods are a nutritious and healthy food group which play an important role in the diet of individuals.
Ms Thompson also states that as many as one in three people are lactose intolerant - again this is factually incorrect.
Lactose intolerance affects only a small portion of white north Europeans, north Americans and Australasians. Rates range from 4.7 per cent in the British population (one in 20 people) to 17 per cent in Finland and northern France, while South American, African and Asian countries do experience higher rates.
DR ALICE COTTER, nutrition scientist, The Dairy Council.
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