Milk is considered an essential product, but today we are trying to drink anything except its classic version - banana, soy, coconut and, most importantly, lactose-free. The fear of lactose makes city dwellers switch from their favorite cappuccino to pure Americano, and lovers of matcha latte - to regular green tea. What is the reason for this eating behavior and how reasonable is it? We deal with these and other issues together with the specialists of Valio, the most innovative dairy company in the world from Finland.
Lactose and lactase: what medicine says
Lactose is a type of sugar found in regular milk and dairy products. Our body cannot assimilate lactose in its original form, but a special enzyme lactase helps it in this. As a result, lactose leaves behind simple sugars, glucose and galactose, which are easily absorbed by the intestinal walls. For young children, lactase is an important enzyme, since they receive all the most nutritious for the growth and development of the body with mother's milk. However, with age, this need disappears.
Statistics show that in most adults, the production of lactase decreases to a level at which full absorption of milk by the body becomes impossible. Studies have also shown that lactose intolerance can occur due to genetic predisposition and certain treatments. This data caught the supporters of a healthy lifestyle by surprise, as a result of which there were many unfounded judgments about the dangers of lactose: milk consumption allegedly deprives us of calcium, destroys kidneys, bone tissue and increases the risk of developing cancer. And this is not a complete list of amazing “facts” about a product that has supported human health for centuries. So how do you tell truth from fiction?
In reality, you can never say with one hundred percent certainty that you have lactose intolerance without confirmation from a specialist. It can only be detected after passing a hydrogen breath test and consulting with specialists. If you frequently experience nausea, weakness, headaches, and muscle aches after eating breakfast with a glass of milk, you should see a nutritionist. Perhaps you really have an intolerance.
However, before you reluctantly switch to lactose-free milk and tune in to lean dinners with salads and cucumber smoothies, you will be glad to know that milk sugar intolerance does not place serious restrictions on your diet and love for all dairy. Below are just a few of the common judgments about lactose intolerance and how true they are.
1. Lactose intolerance is an allergy to milk
No and no again. Lactose intolerance (hypolactasia) occurs when levels of lactase, a cleavage enzyme, are too low to help the body deal with lactose, milk sugar. As a result, unpleasant side effects may occur, but they are not an allergic reaction. Allergy to casein in milk is most often diagnosed in children, less often in adults. It is much more difficult to live with it than with lactose intolerance, and if there is the slightest suspicion of its presence, it is important to consult a specialist without delay (see also: "How to determine if you have a seasonal allergy").
2. If you are lactose intolerant, you cannot eat dairy products
Lactose is present in all dairy products, but the fact remains: those people who feel bad after a glass of milk can safely eat any kind of cheese. The explanation for this sounds very simple: if the protein that breaks down lactose is produced in a smaller amount, this does not mean at all that it is not produced at all. This figure varies, as does the percentage of lactose in each individual dairy product. Somewhere there is a lot of it, but somewhere - very little. The latter applies, for example, to hard cheeses, some types of milk (for example, goat and sheep) and sour cream. The fact is that in fermented milk products, as well as in cheeses, lactose is destroyed during fermentation, therefore their consumption (especially hard varieties) is shown to people with a mild degree of lactose intolerance.
It is important to remember that milk and products derived from it are a storehouse of nutrients and elements that the body needs at any age: from childhood and youth - for normal growth and the formation of a muscular skeleton, to old age - to maintain normal muscle mass. Therefore, in any other cases, except for casein allergy and age up to 6 months, you should definitely not give it up. In Finland, milk and low-fat dairy drinks are the constant companions of a balanced diet, which Finns enjoy drinking with breakfast, lunch and even dinner. And they are very wise, because studies have shown that if you replace one glass of juice with a glass of skim milk, your meal will turn out to be more balanced in terms of the ratio of calories and nutritional value.
3. Lactose intolerance is incurable
Some experts argue that if the body produces at least a small percentage of the enzyme that breaks down lactase, the patient has a chance to overcome milk intolerance. As with many prevention of allergic reactions, taking small portions of dairy products in combination with other foods can play into your hands and gradually train your body to produce more lactase. Experts also note that those patients who take a probiotic after dairy products do not experience serious side effects (as a rule, the symptoms of lactose intolerance become evident within 20-30 minutes after taking dairy products).
Another thing is lactose-free milk technology, which allows even people with intolerances to get all the benefits of the nutrient-rich drink - so there is no need to “treat” lactose intolerance. We take note: compared to alternative sources, milk protein is absorbed by the human body by almost one hundred percent, and this is an excellent indicator that makes milk the best natural source of protein. It is known that about 40% of the Russian population suffers from lactose intolerance and cannot consume pure milk. But, given the medical data on its benefits for the human body, and at any age, giving up milk even in this case is not the best solution.
In the production of lactose-free milk, you are unlikely to find the same "guru" as the Finnish brand Valio. For more than a hundred years of its existence, it has become one of the strongest and most innovative players in the dairy market. Among dozens of brand names, a special place is occupied by the EiLa® line, which includes lactose-free dairy products (milk, yoghurts, kefir, butter, cheese, etc.).
For their production, the brand's factories use milk that meets the strictest standards of the concern, and a unique membrane filtration technology. Thanks to it, part of the lactose is removed from milk already at the first stage of filtration on the membrane, and at the second stage, the well-known enzyme lactase comes into play, which breaks down milk sugar into easily digestible glucose and galactose. At the output, the lactose content in the dairy product is less than 0.01%, which makes it possible for people with intolerance to consume it without feeling discomfort and other side effects. But that's not all: the process of lactose filtration is accompanied by enzymatic hydrolysis of protein, which improves the process of digestion and assimilation of useful elements in the composition of the dairy product.
Thus, drinking a mug of lactose-free Eila® milk, like any other Valio dairy product, also provides you with a large amount of essential amino acids, a serving of vitamin D, which improves the absorption of calcium, and other nutrients. The experience of producing lactose-free milk from the leader of the dairy market confirms that, in terms of quality and wealth, such dairy products are in no way inferior to ordinary ones - despite all the myths that say the opposite. The power of technology in action!
4. With lactose intolerance, the only milk that should be excluded from the diet is cow's
Keep in mind that cow's milk is not the only source of lactose. Goat's and sheep's milk also contains sugar, albeit in a smaller amount (read also: "To drink or not drink: why is milk dangerous?"). And, before switching to them, it would be good to find out what your threshold of lactose intolerance is. It is important to consider that you may well have a malabsorption of lactose, and this does not mean that your body cannot tolerate it. It is often very difficult to distinguish between these conditions, so in such cases the most effective is to pass the hydrogen breath test. In this case, the percentage of exhaled hydrogen is estimated, which is formed due to the vital activity of the bacterium that processes lactose in the intestine.
However, to give up milk, as we have already noticed, is not only unnecessary, but also undesirable - especially when there are high-quality lactose-free products on the market that meet all the standards for the usual milk. For example, the Valio brand exports its lactose-free Eila® products to 60 countries, including Russia, while it is important to take into account that the brand's milk is considered one of the cleanest in the world, and the price of the brand's dairy products is higher than in the European Union. True, this status is based on large-scale work: active cooperation with farms, testing and introducing innovations to improve product quality, caring for animal welfare, control of transparency of purchases and environmental friendliness of all stages of production. With this level of responsibility for the quality of lactose-free milk, you don't have to worry - it is quite possible that you will feel much better with it than without it.
Photo: Getty Images
Related materials
- To drink or not to drink: why is milk dangerous?
- Which milk to choose: farm or factory milk?
- Algae milk and borscht from a 3D printer: what will we have in the refrigerator in the near future
- The Royal Menu: The Eating Habits of Elizabeth II