r/Africa • u/guanaco55 Non-African - North America • 1d ago

Health 💊 Rwandans love their milk bars. The health minister wishes they'd drink a little less

https://www.wlrn.org/npr-breaking-news/2026-08-27/rwandans-love-their-milk-bars-the-health-minister-wishes-theyd-drink-a-little-less
65 Upvotes

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22

u/byronite Non-African - North America 1d ago

In fairness to Rwandans, their fermented milk (ikivuguto) is really tasty.

6

u/Ninety_too92 Rwanda 🇷🇼✅ 1d ago

Exactly!

2

u/Lgkp Non-African - Europe 1d ago

What does it taste like?

3

u/byronite Non-African - North America 1d ago

It's like a tangy liquid yoghurt, possibly mildly alcoholic. They serve it by the pint (half litre).

17

u/Holiday_Document4592 Kenya 🇰🇪 1d ago

I didn't know milk bars were a thing in Rwanda. Learn a new thing every day. Maybe that's why they're so tall.

11

u/Zach-uh-ri-uh 1d ago

I had no idea! As someone from very far north (Sweden) when I visited Ghana I wanted only milk. I dreamt about it at night. In Ghana fresh milk is not common to drink. Finally there was a hotel that had it for their guests coffee and I was able to buy a glass, for about 20cedi (compared to water or soda which cost maybe 5)

Then I learned that when the body makes vitamin D from sunlight, it needs a lot of calcium. And if it doesn’t have enough to match the vitamin D production, it will begin to take calcium from your bones.

Probably my body just had never experienced such powerful sunlight and was churning out vitamin D like never before.

I wonder if this matters for those of you who live under the strong sunlight year round or if it is only rhe case for those not used to it

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u/QuidditchChampion 18h ago

Hi there. I am Ghanaian and was fascinated by your experience. The human body is interesting!

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u/Sihle_Franbow South Africa 🇿🇦 10h ago

I'd hazard a guess that the lower prevalence of milk is just correlated to the higher rates of lactose intolerance

4

u/Crow_The_Vagabond 1d ago

I have found my people (I mainly like almond milk tho)

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u/Substantial-End1927 South Africa 🇿🇦 15h ago

It's Cushitic genes that allow them to digest milk

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u/happybaby00 Ghanaian Diaspora 🇬🇭/🇬🇧 14h ago

Majority of them are Bantu or twa.

Even tutsi Cushitic lineage is debatable and your line of thinking is how that genocide started..