An intriguing little detail in all this frothy commerce is that many people in China, like much of Asia, are lactose intolerant. Human children produce an enzyme that allows them to digest milk, but in much of the world, its levels taper off as they grow up.
But most people -- about 60 percent and primarily those of Asian and African descent -- stop producing lactase, the enzyme required to digest milk, as they mature. People of northern European descent, however, tend to retain the ability to produce the enzyme and drink milk throughout life.
On average, Chinese residents consumed 255.61 ± 88.40 ml dairy product per day. The elderly residents, residents with low education level, residents who lived with family members without milk-drinking habits and residents with poor knowledge of dairy product had worse dairy intake behavior (P < 0.05).
For most of the country, dairy products are exotic Western ingredients that have only recently become popular in coffee shops that serve elaborate cappuccinos and American-style dishes like pizza and pasta. There is some yogurt; a thin, drinkable yogurt is a popular snack in places like Beijing.
Soybean Milk
Lactose intolerance is extremely common in China, with an estimated 92% of adults having trouble absorbing lactose, which is why cow milk alternatives, such as soy milk, are so popular in China.
The Chinese drink their tea without additional ingredients because they have quite a vast array of flavours to choose from, and most of them don't really taste good with milk. Take jasmine tea or lavender tea for example. They are not likely to mix well with milk.
Mongolians drank tea with milk. Chinese did not. The simple fact is that China was never traditionally a country where cows grazed in vast numbers. Milk was available in England in the countryside and it was common to drink Chinese black tea with milk even before Indian tea arrived in the 1840s.
China, despite a growing interest in milk, is again near the very bottom, just above North Korea and Indonesia, where people basically don't drink milk. One last interesting tidbit is how milk consumption varies by age in a way soda and fruit juice consumption does not.
The country with the highest per capita consumption of fluid milk in 2022 was Belarus. The average person in Belarus consumed about 114.9 kilograms of milk in that year. Ukraine came in second with approximately 113.27 kilograms of fluid milk per person.
Milk and dairy products have become an indispensable part of the Japanese diet. Milk and dairy products are now a common sight in refrigerators in Japanese homes, but when and how did they start to take root in our daily lives?
India is the world's largest milk producer, with 22 percent of global production, followed by the United States of America, China, Pakistan and Brazil.
Well over 90 percent of the milk you find will be either sour milk (sour on purpose, yes) or ultra-high temperature pasteurized milk that doesn't require refrigeration. The only fresh milk available in China is called Yonsei Milk and is produced at Yonsei University in South Korea.
According to a survey among South Korean milk drinkers on their reasons for consuming milk, around 45.3 percent of respondents answered that they consumed milk as a snack to appease their hunger. According to the same source, especially respondents aged 14 to 39 gave this as a reason.
Famine and disease were the catalysts for the evolution of lactose tolerance in Europe, and explain why others are lactose intolerant. Thousands of years before humans had evolved to digest milk properly, prehistoric people in Europe were consuming milk.
Generally, dairy consumption is much lower in Asians, especially in Koreans because dairy foods are not a part of the traditional Korean diet and 75 % of Koreans have lactose intolerance ( 5 , Reference Scrimshaw and Murray 11 ).
Estimates for lactose intolerance vary by ethnicity. African American and Asian ethnicities see a 75% - 95% lactose intolerance rate, while northern Europeans have a lower rate at 18% - 26% lactose intolerance. For some people, drinking milk with their morning cereal is all the dairy they need for the day.
India ranks first in milk production in the world contributing 24% of global milk production.
Finnish milk is among the cleanest milk in the world thanks to healthy cows. The superior quality of Valio milk is ensured by expert milk producers supported by first-class advisory services. Valio milk ranks among the cleanest in the world, and we have zero tolerance for antibiotic residue in milk.
Animal Milk Nutrition Comparison
Almost 85% of the world's milk supply is from cows.
The bottom line is no, dairy products are not a nutritional requirement for humans. We can get all of the nutrients for optimal health from a high-quality diet that limits or contains no dairy.
The Muslim faith prefers everything that is healthy for humans, and milk is extremely healthy and nutritious. Only that which will cause harm to human health and that which is stated as such in the holy book, the Quran, is forbidden.
Turns out, the major difference lies in the method by which milk is processed. Almost all milk is pasteurized, meaning it undergoes extreme heat in order to kill illness-causing bacteria. The U.S. and Canada use a pasteurizing technique called high-temperature short-time pasteurization, or HTST.
Wooden tablets (Jp. mokkan 木簡) unearthed from the Heijō Palace in Nara mention milk having been offered. The consumption of dairy appears to have increased during the early Heian period (794–1185).
Because, when you drink milk with spicy food, it might hinder the process of digestion. The fluid dilutes the digestive enzymes and slows down the digestion process, when had right after the meals. It also hampers the digestion of milk protein, leading to indigestion.
Originally, tea was valued for its medicinal qualities. It has long been known that tea aids in digestion, which is why many Chinese prefer to consume it after their meal.