Lactose Intolerance

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By Sujatha Rajagopal

Are embarrassing and unpleasant symptoms keeping you from your milk?

We all know that everyone — whether a growing child or an adult — who wants to avoid the dangers of osteoporosis, needs calcium for strong healthy bones and teeth. While there are other sources of calcium, such as supplements, nothing beats the best natural source — milk.

This nutrient dense food is not only packed with all the essential minerals and vitamins you need; it also has a higher calcium absorption rate than supplements do, so your body easily gets the recommended calcium intake.

But what happens if you experience embarrassing and unpleasant symptoms such as flatulence (gas), nausea, abdominal cramps, bloated stomach or diarrhea after consuming dairy food and products?

These gastrointestinal symptoms are commonly associated with lactose intolerance, a dietary condition that is estimated to affect 70% of the world population and 95% of Chinese Singaporeans alone.

Lactose intolerance is the body’s inability to digest significant amounts of lactose, a common sugar found in many foods. This results from a shortage of the lactase enzyme which is normally produced by cells that line the small intestine. The lactase enzyme breaks down the common sugar into simpler forms that can be absorbed into the blood stream.

When there is a shortage of lactase in the body, you may experience symptoms like flatulence, nausea, abdominal cramps, bloating and diarrhea about 30 minutes to 2 hours after consuming food containing lactose. These include dairy products, potatoes, salad dressing, veal, eggs, cereals, biscuits, candies, soft drinks, beer and many more. Lactose is also found in 20% of prescription drugs (antibiotics and oral contraceptives) and 6% of over-the-counter medicine.

Lactose intolerance may be hereditary or more commonly acquired with age. After the age of 2 years, the body naturally begins to produce less lactase, and this affects people in varying degrees. It can also develop as a result of gastrointestinal disorders, which damage the digestive tract. This condition should not be confused with milk allergy, which is in fact the body’s inability to digest milk protein, not lactose.

If you are lactose intolerant, there are solutions available for you to treat this dietary condition so you can enjoy the goodness of dairy and other food. Look out for lactase enzyme replacement products or digestive supplements containing both lactase and lactobacillus acidophilus, a good bacterial culture that helps your body produce its own lactase enzyme to assist lactose digestion. Low lactose milk is also widely available at supermarkets. However, remember that ‘low lactose’ does not mean ‘no lactose’.

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