Lactose Intolerant

When somebody is said to be lactose intolerant, this means if a person is subject to a degree of lactose higher than they can handle, they are likely to suffer some of the side effects associated with being lactose intolerant. Such symptoms include the feeling of been bloated, stomach cramp and even explosive diarrhoea. In some cases, feelings of nausea can accompany the aforementioned.

Lactose is one of the sugar groups in milk, and once consumed, the body attempts to convert this into glucose to be used for energy. The human body has many different ‘enzymes', which are converter bacteria, each responsible for converting different types of foods and nutrients into something the body can make use of. In the case of lactose, the converter enzyme is ‘lactase' and is produced in the small intestine.

Contrary to popular belief, lactose intolerance is in fact perfectly normal, and most adults in the world have only a limited tolerance to lactose. After the breast milk weaning period as babies is over, lactose tolerance begins to drop, and since most people continue to consume milk, the body can often find itself struggling to digest it.

It is the relatively recent cultural change where humans have begun consuming cow's milk into adulthood, which have made apparent our inefficiency at digesting lactose once we exist early childhood. Although cultures exist in places like northern Europe where milk consumption has been part and parcel of life from generation to generation for perhaps millennia and a tolerance to milk has been genetically developed.

Given lactose intolerance isn't a typical disorder in the truest sense of the word, there appears to be nothing below artificial genetic modification which could be done to increase tolerance permanently, and we are a long, long way from this, if ever.

In the meantime, the obvious solution is to cut down lactose consumption by swapping typical dairy products for a lactose-free variety, or failing this, simply find your limit and stick to it.