Friday, August 16, 2013

Lactose Free Information

Lactose Free Information

By Scarlet Black


Most people will be asking what Lactose is and how it can affect our lives. For the benefit of most people, let us discuss what Lactose is and what it means to be Lactose free. It is a type of sugar naturally found in all milk that is produced by mammals like cow, goat and even human. Lactose will not be absorbed and used by the body if it is not broken down. For Lactose to be broken down by the body, an enzyme called as lactase is needed. A deficiency wherein the body is does not have sufficient lactase and is not capable of completely digesting lactose is called lactose intolerance. Since there is insufficient amount of lactase, lactose is not metabolized completely. As a result, a person that is lactose intolerant may show abdominal symptoms like bloating, flatulence and stomach cramps. These symptoms may appear due to lactose overload in infants, genetic disorders or gastrointestinal diseases.

Some people may be confused regarding lactose intolerance and milk allergy but they are two different things. Milk allergy is defined as a kind of food allergy that causes adverse immune reaction to a food protein that is typically not harmful to individuals that are not allergic. While lactose intolerance is not considered as a food allergy but is a kind of non-allergic sensitivity which is caused by insufficient production of lactase that is required for the body to digest sugar in milk. 70% of the world's population is made up of people that are lactose intolerant however this is not considered a disease or sickness. There are two options for lactose intolerant people for them to be able digest sugar in milk, they can either take lactase supplement or avoid taking milk and milk products. On the other hand, people that has milk allergy should avoid milk and milk products.

Normally, it is uncommon for children to be born with a lactase deficiency but the production of this enzyme has the tendency to stop or decrease two years after birth. Symptoms of lactose intolerance may differ from one person to another since different people have different levels of intolerance. For example, there are people who cannot totally tolerate any milk or milk products in his/her diet while there are others there are others that will not feel any discomfort when he or she drinks milk.

Suggestion of taking milk products along with lactase supplement are being done by a lot of experts including dieticians, medical professionals and nutritionists. This is only one of the many options of persons with lactose intolerance in order to lower or eliminate his/her lactose intolerance symptoms. Other options include taking up lactase supplement either in pill or powdered form which are already available to be purchased. Also, regular dairy products are already being supplemented with the enzyme lactase for it to be digested easily especially for persons with lactose intolerance. These regular dairy products are known as lactose-free products and the lactose found in these products are already broken even before it has been consumed.

Diarrhea, bloating, abdominal pain, nausea, stomach cramps and flatulence are just some of the symptoms that lactose intolerant people may experience. It should also be known that lactose intolerance is more common in people of certain ethnicities and may present at any age but is more likely to happen in infants.




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