Eating dairy if you are lactose-intolerant

Some lower-lactose dairy products, like hard cheese and yogurt, can help keep lactose intolerance symptoms at bay

- Caroline Hopkins Legaspi

I recently learnt that I am lactose-intolerant. Do I really need to avoid all dairy or are some products safe to eat?

Some 30 million to 50 million people in the United States have lactose intolerance. This means their bodies cannot adequately break down lactose, the sugar present in milk.

The result can be uncomfortable gas, bloating, nausea, diarrhoea and abdominal pain - symptoms that typically occur within 30 to 60 minutes of eating a lactose-rich food, said dietitian and assistant professor of nutrition Beth Ferrell Jenks at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The good news: While individual tolerances to dairy foods can vary, certain lower-lactose dairy products, like hard cheese and yogurt, can help keep lactose intolerance symptoms at bay.

HOW TO EAT WITH LACTOSE INTOLERANCE

Trouble with lactose intolerance tends to begin in adulthood, when your body gradually makes less lactase, an enzyme that breaks down lactose.

Some people might not notice this change in their digestion, said Dr Suneeta Krishnareddy, a gastroenterologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City.

But others may have symptoms so severe that they experience nausea and vomiting after eating certain foods, said Dr Nitin K. Ahuja, a gastroenterologist at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia.