3 days now on this ... I give up! Someone Please help me with this ... (thanks)

I am trying to create a Dynamic Drop Down List with Data Validation. My only problem is that I MUST use the ampersand sign in my lists that Im creating names for! Example:

In my Dept List I have for example:
Vitamins & Minerals
Herbs & Plants
Supplements
Food & Beverage

As long as my list has only one word, Im fine. However, when there is an Ampersand in it, my link breaks for my look up! I believe the problem is in part the spaces on either side of the ampersand as well.

for the cell next to it that will pull the info from lets say Supplements, I use a string a string =INDIRECT($U$2) which references whatever is in the cell that Im trying to pull the info from .. Can anyone help me please....

In plain English .. If the dept says Vitamins, it should pull up a list that has all my Vitamins in it .. if it had supplements, it should pull the list that has all my supplements.
If it was going to pull a list from lets say Food and Beverage, then it would need to go through a few steps to get down to the chips, or candy bars, or whatever ...

I dunno .. maybe the Indirect is the wrong approach for this ?
Thanks!
PS ... I got the idea from :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Los7N...A5A63658E23B0D