Resumen

ABLAN DE FLOREZ, Elvira  y  ABREU OLIVO, Edgar. La leche y sus derivados en la alimentación y nutrición humana en venezuela (1981-2000). INCI [online]. 2003, vol.28, n.2, pp.75-82. ISSN 0378-1844.

Summary     The main goal of this paper is to present the most important characteristics of the evolution of the availability of milk and dairy products for human consumption (AHC) in Venezuela during the period 1981-2000, and its consequences in the nutrition of the average inhabitant of this country. The article analyses the behavior of AHC during stages of improvement and deterioration in the family’s economic situation. It shows a set of characteristic values of the AHC for milk and dairy products in the interval studied. It demonstrates the evolution of the structure of the AHC of milk and dairy products in terms of the individual products of this group, and analyzes in a dynamic way the structure of dairy AHC according to the origin of the products, illustrating the main characteristics of the evolution of national and foreign components, as well as analyses the relationship between the variations of the latter and the changes in the total availability of dairy products. The importance of milk and dairy products in Venezuelans´ nutrition is quantified, for energy as well as for several nutrients, in terms of their contribution to the total availability of each one of these component and of their respective adequacy. Particularly for calcium, vitamin A and riboflavin, the relationship between AHC of milk and dairy products and adequacy are studied. Different social mechanisms are suggested to confront the problem of calcium deficiency, the most important among deficiencies which characterize the nutrition of the average Venezuelan.

Palabras clave : Alimentación ; Calcio ; Leche ; Nutrición ; Productos Lácteos ; Venezuela .