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Thursday 29 August 2013

Facts About Lactose

By Scarlet Black


Mostly found in milk and other dairy products, lactose is a kind of carbohydrate or sugar. While lactase is the enzyme found in a person's digestive system and is responsible of digesting and breaking down lactose for it to be used by the body. Insufficient amounts of lactase in the body will result in the inability of the body to break down and absorb lactose which will cause symptoms of digestive problems such as diarrhea and abdominal pain. Lactose intolerance is the term use for the inability of the body to supply sufficient amounts of lactase therefore resulting in the inability of the body to process and metabolize lactose.

Babies are not usually affected by lactose intolerance but there are instances that babies experiencing irritability that is caused by consuming some foods are wrongly diagnosed and parents are recommended to change their usual baby formula into lactose free formula. Usually, lactose intolerance develops after weaning stage and this is also known as the secondary lactose intolerance. Different factors can cause secondary lactose intolerance but one of the main causes of secondary lactose intolerance is frequent occurrence of gastroenteritis which causes the lining of the stomach to weaken. However, this kind of secondary lactose intolerance is normally temporary and will improve once the stomach lining is healed and strengthened.

A person that is lactose intolerant usually shows symptoms of lactose intolerance after consuming milk and other dairy products and some of the basic symptoms include diarrhea, flatulence, abdominal pain and swelling. But there are degree of lactose intolerance in different people varies. While there are people who need to completely avoid consuming milk and other dairy products, there are also other lactose intolerant people who are allowed to consume limited quantity of milk and other dairy products since their digestive system can tolerate little amounts of lactose without the risk of experiencing the symptoms.

There are four main causes of lactose intolerance including:

-Included in the four main causes of lactose intolerance is congenital. The problem with this main cause of lactose intolerance lies on the genes of the body since they are usually the main reason why your body is not able to produce sufficient amounts of lactase to be used for lactose absorption.

-Parasitic infection has the tendency to decrease lactase levels temporarily therefore resulting in the body's inability to digest lactose properly.

-Gastroenteritis is another main cause of lactose intolerance because it causes the stomach lining to be weakened and lactase to be stripped from the digestive system. The good thing about this cause of lactose intolerance though, is that it is usually temporary and can be treated once linings of the stomach are healed.

-The body's inability to digest and absorb lactose properly may also be caused by iron deficiency. This is one of the four main causes of lactose intolerance.

People who are usually lactose intolerant tend to avoid foods that contain milk and other dairy products especially desserts since these are the kind of foods that normally contain milk. But nowadays, there already different foods that can substitute milk as the main ingredient for many different recipes and there are already milk that are lactose free which helps people who are lactose intolerant to be able to consume food that they normally would not eat or consume because of the fear of experiencing symptoms of lactose intolerance.




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