Lactose Intolerance

More and more people are discovering that they have trouble digesting dairy products. Lactose intolerance and milk allergies are often to blame for the bloating, gas, nausea, and diarrhea that people experience after consuming dairy foods.

Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest the naturally occurring milk sugars found in all dairy products. Lactose normally breaks down into two simple sugars, glucose and galactose. When a person is lactose intolerant, the milk sugars cannot be broken down and end up in the colon. Intestinal bacteria cause the sugars to ferment and turn into fatty acids, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and methane, which may result in uncomfortable digestive complications.

An estimated 75 percent of adults worldwide are lactose intolerant. Newborn babies manufacture lactase in the lining of the small intestine. The lactase enables a baby to digest the lactose in breast milk. When children are weaned and switched to solid foods, the production of lactase usually declines. Many people will progressively develop a lactase deficiency or lactose intolerance as they get older. Scientists believe lactose intolerance is often genetically linked, but complications can also be the result of disease or any event that damages the lining of the small intestine (where the lactase enzyme is produced). Therapeutic measures such as surgery, radiation or treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics can also temporarily or permanently damage the stomachs' lining preventing a person from digesting lactose properly.

Dairy foods are high in calcium, riboflavin, protein, phosphorous, magnesium, and many other essential nutrients that the body requires daily. So don’t go without dairy - supplement your system with a natural enzyme product.