First of all, putting this in CS because it’s a food issue; if it needs to go elsewhere, my appologies.
Due to recent rather sudden chemical changes in my digestive system, I’m finding myself severely lactose intollerant. A single slice of cheese on a sandwich can ruin the rest of my day. This is really annoying to me, as cheese is one of my favorite foods.
So, I looked at LactAid today, and saw that it’s something that needs to be taken with any lactose product. Something about that didn’t sit well with me, although I’m not exactly sure what.
So, anyone have any experience with this sort-of thing? Does LactAid or anything similar work? And if so, how well and how fast?
I want my sharp cheddar and english stilton back, darnit!
Well, my lactose intolerance really only hits me when I drink a big glass of milk. I’m not a huge milk drinker, so that was easy enough for me to deal with. But I’ve been drinking Slim Fast shakes recently and they did a good number on me. To clarify, I’ll get gas and some diarrhea, but nothing to ruin my day like you described, so it seems you are much more lactose intolerant than I am.
That said, I take 1 Lactaid with my Slim Fast and feel none of the gas or anything at all like I would without it.
I’m sure someone will come along to make better sense of what I’m saying, but the Walgreen’s pharmacist I talked to looked at a couple boxes of the stuff and pointed out some enzyme, saying they were the same so he handed me the cheaper alternative. Not sure if you have Kroger’s “Waaaaay over here!” but the pharmacist mentioned that he and his lactose intolerant g/f ran some tests and found that the Kroger brand had the most enzymes, or whatever.
Long story short, try it. I’ve not noticed any side effects at all from Lactaid.
I developed lactose intolerance a number of years back; it has gotten a bit worse as time went on but not quite as bad as yours as I can consume small amounts of dairy products (up to about 2-3 ounces) without any ill effects. As a confirmed cheesaholic, I can confirm that taking Lactaid, or the various house brand equivalents, allows me to consume up to about eight ounces of cheese or a half-pint of Ben & Jerrys without regret.
It does depend somewhat on the type of cheese. The more aged, the more I can tolerate. I have a carton of yogurt for breakfast every morning without Lactaid and it doesn’t bother me in the least.
I’ve mostly been using the WalMart version, but I have had the Kroger version too. I’ve never noticed any different in their efficiency, or any side effects.
For the record, GildedLily, I think SlimFast has that effect on most people not just those with lactose intolerance. Those drinks have soy and sugar alcohols in them and both of those things wreak havoc on many digestive systems. Of course, they have milk products in them too so you’re just setting yourself up for failure right there
LactAid Ultra (or store brand equivalent) tablets work well for me. I’m pretty lactose-intolerant, and have been for many years, but with the pills (chewable or the kind you have to swallow, doesn’t make any difference), I can eat reasonable amounts of ice cream and other dairy products.
Cheese, or some cheeses, anyway, don’t seem to hit me that hard. Maybe it’s because some cheeses still have bacteria in them that aid with digestion? I do notice that the more processed kinds give me some trouble, while, for example, a nice manchego (a Spanish sheep’s milk cheese) gives me no trouble at all.
I’ve never been without Lactaid in my pocket since it went on the market locally in the 1980s.
Lactase is not even a medication. It’s just the enzyme that your body can no longer make. Nothing is 100% effective for everybody on every occasion, but this is as close to perfect a pill as ever devised.
Do you even understand what lactose intolerance is? Your body manufactures the lactase enzyme in the small intestine. The enzyme is a catalyst that speeds up the digestion of lactose, i.e. it lets the body split the lactose into the simpler sugars glucose and galactose, both of which can be absorbed by the intestines quite easily. Undigested lactose can draw water into the intestines, causing diarrhea, and be fermented by bacteria that live in the colon, causing gas. Lactose intolerance is defined as the symptoms caused by the lack of lactase.
Lactose can only be digested in the presence of lactase, so you do have to maintain a supply of lactase in the system. That’s why you need to take the pills whenever you have foods that contain lactose.
There are probiotics like Digestive Advantage, DairyCare, and Lactagen that claim to repopulate the bacterial flora in the colon so that you always have the type that naturally digest lactose (by making their own lactase) rather than the type that ferment lactose. Many people say that these work well for them. You need to look at your own diet and habits to know which would be better for you.
But “didn’t sit well”? I can’t figure out what you mean by that or why you would say it.
ETA: Aged cheeses naturally have little to no lactose in them because the aging process removes the lactose. The longer the aging the smaller the lactose. That’s why some cheeses produce few symptoms and others many.
Sorry, the ‘didn’t sit well’ comment came from the ‘have one of these whenever’ notation on the lactaid. Being a ‘take your pills once a day, regimented, at x hour,’ sort-of guy, the idea of random-timing of medication is just off-putting to me.
My sister is really lactose intolerant. As stated above, the lactase enzyme has to be in your belly around the time it’s going to be needed to break down the lactose. My sister usually takes one tablet about 20 minutes before consuming dairy, to give it a head start, and one tablet right before the dairy product.
Yes, it does work. She can eat dairy like anyone else. And as pointed out above, aged cheeses are usually low lactose. Generally the harder the cheese the lower the lactose, and fermented cheeses (such as feta) are usually low- to no-lactose as well because the fermentation breaks down the lactose. Yogurts with active bacterial cultures are okay too, and my sister eats that for her daily calcium requirements and needs no tablets to do so.
You should read the labels too, because it’s often more cost effective to get the stronger tablets (4,500 or 9,000 units) than the wimpy ones. I made the mistake of buying the wimpy ones once and I swear it looked like my sister had to eat a handful of them (she usually eats one or two of the 4,500 unit tablets).
Well, that’s the attraction of the probiotics like Digestive Advantage and DairyCare for some people. You only take them once a day. Lactagen gives you a month’s supply and claims that’s all you ever need, but charges accordingly.
Reason being, as already noted, that the lactaid pill does not cure your lactose intolerance in an ongoing way - it provides a single dose of the proper enzymes that will allow you to digest lactose at the time that you take it. So, the timing isn’t random at all - you take it directly when you require it.
In this sense, taking it twice a day or whatever would be “taking it randomly” because it would have no connection to the medication’s function. If you take it when you’re not about to eat dairy, it doesn’t harm you, it just does nothing.
As it was for my teenaged brother, who is also intolerant, as I am. I know that Wal-Mart and Costco have house brands; get the kind that are individually packaged (you tear them open). Just stuff a few in your wallet. The “ultra” kind have 9000 Lactase units in them. Personally, I’ve found I only need 1/2 a pill for most things. If that’s the case for you, just wrap the rest of the pill in the paper casing and put it back in your wallet.
It varies, of course - if I’m having breakfast of eggs, a glass of milk, and a yogurt, I need a whole pill. You should experiment - try taking an ‘original’ strength pill of 3000 units (or 1/3 or 1/2 of an “ultra” pill) with a slice of cheese. If in an hour you’re good, then try upping it to two slices or a 1/2 glass of milk and 1 slice of cheese with 3000 units again. You’ll find how much it takes for you quickly.
As a rule of thumb, milk is the worst offender.
As for portability, just stick 'em in your wallet, and refill once a week when you’re home. You become conditioned to “see dairy, pop pill”. Your spouse/SO will even tend to remind you after awhile!
Edit: My mother is intolerant as well, and she buys everything in the Lactaid brand. Personally, I think it’s a huge waste of money, plus it tastes slightly funny to me, since it’s essentially the enzyme ground up and sprinkled in the dairy itself. But it’s a popular brand, and if after awhile you can’t get the hang of the pill thing and you have the money to spend (1/2 gal of regular milk $2, 1/2 gal of lactaid is $3), then try Lactaid.
