Reprinted Articles

Lactose is found in all animal milks. Goat’s milk, for example, has 5% to 10% more lactose than dairy milk. It was assumed that only a minority of people suffered from lactose intolerant, but the latest research dispels this myth. The reality is that virtually everybody is lactose intolerant - it’s just a matter of degree.

Lactose intolerance affects the body by causing varying degrees of nausea, bloating, cramps, gas, and diarrhea, which begin between 30 minutes and 2 hours after milk consumption. This happens because the body is unable to breakdown the lactose properly,

The symptoms of lactose intolerance will vary with individuals, depending on how well you tolerate it, and the amount of lactose consumed. The condition develops over time, getting worse with age. Men and women suffer equally.

When lactose (the principal sugar in milk) is consumed it is broken down by lactase bacteria into galactose and glucose. If you don’t have enough lactase (which most people don’t) your body won’t be able to break the lactose down - that’s when you suffer lactose intolerance.

Human babies have enough lactase to digest the lactose in human milk. But in the first few months or years of life the baby gradually loses the capacity to breakdown and digest lactose.

For example, in the USA the medical profession regards over 50 million people as being clinically lactose-intolerant. Some racial and ethnic populations are more widely affected than others. As many as 75 percent of African-Americans and American-Indians (and 90 percent of Asian-Americans) are said to be lactose-intolerant. The condition is known to be least common among people of northern European descent.

Even people who do not regard themselves as being lactose intolerant do in fact feel the effects whenever dairy milk is consumed. However, the effects for some people can be so mild as to be hardly noticeable. Slight feelings of bloating or indigestion will typically be associated with overindulgence or a rushed meal rather than with lactose intolerance.

There is plenty of research showing how lactose in milk causes human illness (too many studies to quote here). But a quick search on Internet will reveal the research on this subject.

The dietary guidelines given by the US authorities (for people wanting to avoid lactose intolerance) is to recommend they eat other calcium-containing foods like broccoli, fish and calcium fortified juices. This is poor advice because what people really want is information on milk alternatives.

Clearly, you can use ‘lactose free’ milk. In the USA, for example, you can buy ‘Lactaid’ which is sold as lactose free. But lactose-free milks are generally not so widely available; also they tend to be more expensive.

However, by far the biggest drawback is that virtually all lactose-free milk is ultra-pasteurized (also known as ‘Long Life’ or UHT milk). Just about all the research is showing that UHT milk is significantly worse for health compared to regular pasteurized milk. For example, there is overwhelming evidence showing that UHT milk may be the biggest dietary cause of a variety of brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntingdon’s and others.

How then can you best avoid lactose in milk? Quite simply, switch to milk made from a variety of nuts, seeds, or soybeans. These non-dairy milks are super-nutritious and they offer a wonderful variety of delicious creamy flavours.

Last 5 posts by Russell Eaton

• Best Air Travel Tips - June 8th, 2008
• Why Organic Milk is Worse for Diabetes - May 18th, 2008
• Milk increases chances of multiple birth - May 4th, 2008
• Dioxin Levels Significantly Higher in Organic Milk - April 12th, 2008
• American Milk Consumers Being Deceived by Mislabelling - April 9th, 2008

Tags: Health