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Addresses the confusion regarding the primary malabsorption of lactose by adults and the desirability to encourage milk consumption among those who cannot digest lactose. Significance of lactose malabsorption in the treatment of protein-calorie malnutrition; Ethnic groups with incidences of lactose malabsorption; Alternatives to lactose-rich milk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mithan or gayal (Bos [Bibos] frontalis), a domesticated bovine found previously to play an unusual role in the socio-religious life of various hill tribes of the Indo-Burma borderlands, is considered as it fits into the life of the Aka, a tribal people of Arunachal Pradesh, India. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is concerned with the avoidance of fish as human food in the Indian subcontinent and nearby areas, from a cultural and historical point of view. Three factors are identified that now influence, or may have once influenced people to avoid fish. First there is the view that fish are dirty creatures and that fishing and fish‐eating are low‐class activities; this is especially common in areas of nomadic tradition. Second there is belief in sacred water and sacred fish, in connection with the worship of particular deities such as Vishnu. There is also a commitment to ahlmsã and vegetarianism, concepts prominent in Jainism and other religions of Indian origin, and observed according to a person's role, class, and sectarian affiliation. The manifestation of attitudes against fishing and fish‐eating are considered, and the conclusion is reached that the above and other historical, sociocultural, and ecological factors must be weighed in order to gain a balanced view of fish use and use of other potential foods by man. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers the rejection of fish as human food among various African peoples, its distribution and manifestations, its diffusion in historic and prehistoric times, and its possible origins. It is suggested that ultimately the avoidance may derive from the scorn pastoralists commonly exhibit for farmers and their life and ways. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The modern Hindu use of the “five products of the cow” (milk, curd, ghi, urine, and dung) in ritual purification is examined. The five products’ value in such purification today, as in ancient India, is clearly linked to the sanctity of the cow. The earliest Indian literary reference to the five products being used in ritual purification, moreover, dates from the same historical period that the sacred cow concept itself developed. Thus it is almost certain that the rise of the sacred cow concept led to the use of the five products of the cow in ritual purification, a classic example of the influence of religious beliefs on the use of food and other resources. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The sacred cow concept of Hindu India has many interesting and important socio‐cultural and ecological manifestations. This article focuses on one of these: the ban on cow slaughter included in the Constitution of India, and the legal controversy that followed efforts to implement the ban. The conclusion is reached that to understand the problem one should not focus narrowly on the unquestioned economic utility of cattle in Indian life, that one must also consider religious belief as a force that in some respects has a detrimental impact on the ecology of food and nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper weighs the various hypotheses that have been advanced by scholars to explain a curious problem in the geography of food and nutrition. This problem is why, in pre‐modern times, two practices—dairying and use of the milk of domestic animals in human diet—failed to spread into all parts of the Old World where milkable animals were present. The conclusion is reached that this failure cannot be explained, as is commonly done, in terms of a single determinant, that instead one must acknowledge the role of a series of interrelated influences deriving from human ecology, physiology, and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]