Lactose Intolerance

 

Have you ever had this experience, where you drink a glass of milk and your stomach gets upset, but after going to the toilet the symptoms disappear? Or your child, after feeding, shows excessive gas, experiences diarrhea and cries? These are usually the symptoms that you and your child may be lactose intolerant.

 

Lactose intolerance refers to the occurrence of abdominal pain, diarrhea, or flatulence after ingesting lactose-containing milk or dairy products. These symptoms generally appear anywhere between 30 minutes to 3 hours after feeding with persistent symptoms occurring over 2–6 hours and diarrhea occurring within 2 hours. Lactose intolerance is caused by the reduced or absent activity of the lactose-digesting enzyme, lactase, in the intestines. Hence, lactose cannot be properly broken down in the body and intestines.

 

Lactose intolerance differs according to ethnic, racial and geographical origins. In general, Asians are more prone to lactose intolerance. Even in the same individual, the breaking down of lactose in the body also varies according to time and frequency of dairy product ingestion. Usually in young children, the enzymes are abundant and are at their most active form. But the amount of enzymes in the body begins to decline after the weaning period. In adults, a large number of the lactase enzymes would have declined but if the adult is persistent in taking milk and dairy products throughout their lifespan the enzymes will be kept at a healthy, normal amount.

 

The congenital lack of the lactase enzyme causes the young child to have an inability to digest lactose and therefore would require a special lactose-free formula (such as soy protein or lactose-free formulated milk protein). At week 36 of a pregnancy, the formation of lactose is complete in a person's body. However, if the child has a cold or gastroenteritis caused by diarrhea, he might experience temporary lactose intolerance and would not be able to digest lactose at that point of time.

 

For a child who is more than a year old, because of the decreased lactase enzyme activity in the body, the child will have a lower tolerance for lactose. It is therefore advisable to keep the child in the habit of drinking milk regularly. Attentive parents can also allow their child to consume lower-lactose dairy products such as yogurt or even lactose-free formulas, which helps ensure that the lactose intolerant child can enjoy the nutritional value of dairy products.

 

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