Lactose-Free Milk Can Seriously Damage Your Health

Lactose is found in all animal milks. Goat's milk, for example, has 5% to 10% more lactose than dairy milk. It was assumed that only a minority of people suffered from lactose intolerant, but the latest research dispels this myth. The reality is that virtually everybody is lactose intolerant - it's just a matter of degree.

Lactose intolerance affects the body by causing varying degrees of nausea, bloating, cramps, gas, and diarrhea, which begin between 30 minutes and 2 hours after milk consumption. This happens because the body is unable to breakdown the lactose properly,

The symptoms of lactose intolerance will vary with individuals, depending on how well you tolerate it, and the amount of lactose consumed. The condition develops over time, getting worse with age. Men and women suffer equally.

When lactose (the principal sugar in milk) is consumed it is broken down by lactase bacteria into galactose and glucose. If you don't have enough lactase (which most people don't) your body won't be able to break the lactose down - that's when you suffer lactose intolerance.

Most human babies have enough lactase to breakdown and use the lactose in human milk. But within one or two years of life the baby gradually loses the capacity to produce lactase and cope with lactose.

In the USA, for instance, over 50 million people are thought to be lactose-intolerant by the medical profession. The condition is more widespread in certain ethnic and racial populations. As many as 90 percent of Asian-Americans, and 75 percent of African-Americans and American-Indians are said to be lactose-intolerant. It is least common among persons of northern European descent.

But even people who do not think they are lactose intolerant do in fact suffer from the condition whenever animal milk is consumed. However, the effects for some people may be so mild as to be hardly noticeable. Slight feelings of indigestion or bloating will usually be associated with a poor or rushed meal rather than with lactose intolerance.

There are many studies showing how lactose intolerance causes human illness (too many to list here). A quick search on Internet will reveal lots of studies into the subject.

Government dietary guidelines for people wanting to avoid lactose in milk recommend eating other calcium-containing foods like fish, broccoli and fortified orange juice. But this is poor advice because what people need is information on milk alternatives.

You can, of course, buy 'lactose reduced' or 'lactose free' milk. For example in the USA you can buy 'Lactaid' which is lactose free. The drawback is that lactose-free milks are generally not so widely available, and tend to be more expensive.

But the biggest drawback is that lactose-free milk is usually ultra-pasteurized (also known as UHT or 'Long Life' milk). This is a major drawback because all the research is showing that UHT milk is much worse for health compared to regular pasteurized milk. For example, the research is showing that UHT milk may be the biggest dietary cause of a variety of serous brain diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Huntingdon's and others.

What then is the best way to avoid lactose in milk? There is a simple solution: switch to milk made from nuts, seeds, or soybeans. These non-dairy milks offer a wonderful variety of delicious flavours and they are full of healthy nutrients.