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| Lactose Intolerance |
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People with Lactose Intolerance have difficulty digesting milk and dairy products because of a deficiency of an enzyme called lactase. This enzyme is needed to break down lactose, the milk sugar, into two simple sugars: glucose and galactose. Both of these sugars are easily absorbed by the small intestine, but because lactose is a more complex sugar, it is not well absorbed in the small intestine.
When lactose is not digested in the small intestine, it moves on to the large intestine where it ferments and results in the symptoms of lactose intolerance, which can range from troublesome to acutely disabling.
Symptoms of lactose intolerance include nausea, abdominal bloating, cramps, gas, and diarrhea. The symptoms commonly begin about thirty minutes to two hours after eating or drinking foods containing lactose. This includes milk and most dairy products, as well as many other processed foods that contain small amounts of dairy products.
It’s important to distinguish lactose intolerance from milk allergy. While both conditions are common, they are not related. Milk allergy is due to true allergy to constituents in cow’s milk, often one of its proteins. Lactose intolerance, on the other hand, is due entirely to a deficiency of the enzyme lactase. Milk allergy often begins during infancy or early childhood, while lactose intolerance usually shows up in adulthood.
Lactase production in the body often begins decreasing after about age two, but many people do not start having symptoms until middle age. There are distinct racial differences with lactase deficiency. Up to 80 percent of African American adults have lactose intolerance, while over 90 percent of Asian Americans and Native Americans may have it. People of northern European descent are less likely to have it. All told, up to fifty million Americans are affected. It is no small problem!
My wife, Carol, developed fairly severe symptoms of lactose intolerance about six years ago. In retrospect, these symptoms had been developing for several years, but finally became severe enough for her to make an appointment with her doctor. After giving her a careful examination, including colonoscopy, to exclude other causes, her doctor said her most likely diagnosis was lactose intolerance. He advised symptomatic treatment, which involved adding lactase pills to milk or avoiding dairy products as much as possible.
This resolved her symptoms, but it made eating out a pain in a different way. There are so many dishes with dairy components in them that it was difficult to find food that Carol could eat in any restaurant. The result was that we just about stopped eating out.
One day Carol ran across an item on the Internet about a product called Lactagen. It promised relief from lactose intolerance if taken according to directions. This involved putting a tiny scoop of the Lactagen powder in water daily, and gradually increasing the amount over five weeks. Then, according to the article, the patient could freely consume milk and dairy products again, and Lactagen could be stopped.
I was frankly skeptical. I told Carol that this was probably a scam, but she was anxious to find help and willing to take a chance. She ordered a canister of the Lactagen ($148 with shipping,) and began taking it very faithfully. Five weeks later she began consuming milk and dairy products again, and I had to eat my words. Her symptoms of lactose intolerance were gone. That was over two years ago, and she is still fine. Since then, a friend of ours with lactose intolerance has also cleared up her symptoms by taking Lactagen.
Lactagen is not an officially prescribed treatment, but I can vouch that it really works, at least in the two cases I know about personally. The principle involved in the treatment seems straightforward. Its main ingredients are lactose and Lactobacillus Acidophilus, a desirable kind of bacteria. Evidently, treatment protocol re-establishes these good bacteria in the intestine, and once established, dairy products can be digested and absorbed satisfactorily. For anyone with lactose intolerance, Lactagen is worth considering.
[Ed Dodge has no stock or financial investment of any kind in Lactagen. There is no conflict of interest.] |