Milk Intolerance: What You Should Know About It

More and more people in Germany suffer from milk intolerance. Children are also often affected. We will show you which symptoms can occur and how you can eat alternatively if you have milk intolerance.

Things to know about milk intolerance

Lactose intolerance affects 75 percent of the world’s adult population.

• As humans, we are normally able to absorb and utilize lactose from birth. The enzyme lactase, which our body produces, helps us with this.
• Lactase breaks down milk sugar into the usable simple sugars galactose and glucose. If the enzyme is missing in the body, the lactose reaches the large intestine uncleaved, where it causes unpleasant symptoms.
• A lack of enzymes can be congenital or acquired. Lactase production activity decreases over the course of our lives, which can lead to poorer lactose utilization.
• Diseases of the digestive system can also damage the cells in the small intestine, which produce lactase, to such an extent that lactose intolerance is the result. Bacterial intestinal infections, celiac disease, or small intestinal parasites are examples of such diseases.
  Other possible causes are chemotherapy or radiation therapy, malnutrition, and chronic alcohol abuse.

Therapy for lactose intolerance

Changing your diet can help if you are lactose intolerant.

• If lactose intolerance has health implications, dairy products should be avoided as much as possible.
• As a milk substitute, you can use soy, oat, or rice milk as a milk substitute. These are also suitable for cooking, baking, or making pudding and yogurt. Soy and oat cream results in creamy sauces and can sometimes even be whipped until stiff.
• Goat’s or sheep’s cheese is better tolerated than cow’s milk products and is also suitable for gratins or pizza. Many retailers carry vegan cheese and plant-based margarine replaces butter.
• Special lactose-free foods have also been on the market for a long time. From yogurt to pizza to cream sauces, there is something delicious for every lactose-intolerant connoisseur.
• If you don’t want to restrict your food choices, you can use lactase tablets to replace the missing enzyme. You can get these at the pharmacy.