Dairy dilemma

How to identify causes, symptoms, impact, and ways to manage it

- Stuti Gupta

Considering the fact that about seventy percent of the world population, primarily Asian, African and South American people are known to suffer from lactose intolerance, the lack of awareness about the same comes across as a rude shock. With some choosing to confuse the condition with milk allergies or lactose malabsorption and others simply refusing to acknowledge the symptoms at all, this is a condition that's often misconstrued by the common man. Here, we try to decode the common genesis of this problem along with ways to tackle and deal with the same.

"Lactose intolerance occurs when the small intestine produces insufficient amounts of lactase, an enzyme needed to digest lactose, a sugar found in dairy products. This deficiency can be genetic, age-related, or triggered by intestinal conditions like Crohn's disease or celiac disease. Without enough lactase, lactose passes undigested into the colon, where bacteria ferment it, leading to symptoms," shares Dr Imran Shaikh, HPB Surgeon and GI Oncosurgeon at Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai Central. As a condition that's proclaimed to develop or get worse over time, early care and precaution becomes of the utmost importance to prevent long-term effects.

How to identify causes
Broadly dissected into four categories, the causes of this condition are none too few.

• Primary lactose intolerance, the most widely found type, is caused due to the natural depletion of the enzyme lactase in the body with age which prevents lactose breaking down into simpler sugars in the small intestine.