What is lactose intolerance?
Lactose is the main sugar found in milk and milk-products
Monday August 13 2007
Lactose intolerance is an inability to absorb lactose, the main sugar found in milk and milk-products. Lactose is a disaccharide, meaning that it is composed of two sugar molecules joined together.
The enzyme lactase is responsible for breaking down lactose into its constituent sugars, glucose and galactose, which can then be absorbed from the gut into the bloodstream, in the normal course of digestion.
Lactase is found in the upper small intestine. However, some people do not have sufficient lactase to perform this digestive function.
This means that some or all of the lactose goes unabsorbed, whereupon it moves on into the large intestine, where the resident bacteria act upon it, causing it to ferment and produce gases.
In a lactose-intolerant person, this build-up of gas causes problematic symptoms such as pain, bloating, feeling of fullness, wind and diarrhoea.
Lactose intolerance is quite common in children, but it occurs in adults also.
In most parts of the world, though not in northern Europe and north America, the majority of the population has some degree of lactose intolerance.
Diagnosis of lactose intolerance can be easily confirmed by cutting out dairy products from the diet for several days and then drinking a few glasses of milk.
If the symptoms develop within one or two hours of taking milk, lactose intolerance is usually present.
Lactose intolerance is not a serious condition in that taking dairy products is not harmful, however uncomfortable the results.
Some sufferers may be able to tolerate small amounts of dairy products, such as milk in tea, while others may be completely intolerant.
In most of those affected, lactose intolerance is treated by cutting down on or cutting out dairy products.
