Which recommendation would you make to a person with lactose intolerance?

Lactose intolerance occurs when your body cannot digest milk sugar called lactose. Lactose is found in dairy products, such as cow’s milk, cheese, ice cream, and pudding. During cancer treatment, it is common for patients to experience lactose intolerance. Cancer therapy can inhibit the growth of cells in your intestines that produce enzymes that digest lactose. Symptoms of lactose intolerance may include diarrhea, bloating, gas, and stomach cramping after consuming dairy products. These symptoms may improve over time or when treatment ends. However, sometimes lactose intolerance is a life-long problem. The following recommendations may help to relieve your symptoms.

Avoid dairy products and foods containing lactose, and instead, choose lactose-free or reduced lactose milk products.

• Most grocery stores sell lactose-free milk and ice cream.
• Consider trying products made with soy or rice instead. Soy milk, rice milk, and almond milk are available at most grocery stores.
• Yogurt with live active cultures and hard cheeses such as parmesan and aged cheddar are lower in lactose. You may find these to be better tolerated and less likely to cause symptoms
• Avoid using butter, margarine, cream, or soft cheeses when cooking or preparing foods.

Read labels carefully.

• Avoid foods that have been prepared with milk, butter, milk solids, cream, casein, or whey.
• Avoid products with ingredient lists that say “May contain milk”.

Talk to your doctor about using over-the-counter enzymes.

• Lactase enzyme products are available in capsule, liquid, or pill form.
• Taking these enzymes with your meal may help you to digest the lactose in milk and prevent symptoms.

Choose other calcium-fortified or high-calcium foods.

• Read labels to find foods that have been fortified with calcium to ensure you are meeting your calcium needs.
• There are many ways to meet your calcium needs from foods other than dairy products. Other good sources of calcium include leafy green vegetables, broccoli, fortified orange juice, fortified cereals, canned salmon, tofu, almonds, soy beans, and white beans.
• Talk with your physician or a registered dietitian about whether you could benefit from taking a calcium supplement.

Symptoms of lactose intolerance may improve over time after treatment ends, but sometimes it can be a long-term problem.

Lactose intolerance is when someone has trouble digesting lactose, a type of sugar found in milk and other dairy foods.

If people with lactose intolerance eat dairy products, the lactose from these foods pass into their intestines, which can lead to gas, cramps, a bloated feeling, and diarrhea.

Some people can have small amounts of dairy without problems. Others have a lot of stomach trouble and need to avoid all dairy products. Many foods, drinks, and digestive aids are available to help manage lactose intolerance.

What Happens in Lactose Intolerance?

Normally, when we eat something containing lactose, an enzyme in the small intestine called lactase breaks it down into simpler sugar forms called glucose and galactose. These simple sugars are then absorbed into the bloodstream and turned into energy.

In lactose intolerance, the body doesn't make enough lactase to break down lactose. Instead, undigested lactose sits in the gut and gets broken down by bacteria, causing gas, bloating, stomach cramps, and diarrhea.

Lactose intolerance is fairly common. Kids and teens are less likely to have it, but many people eventually become lactose intolerant in adulthood. Some health care providers view lactose intolerance as a normal human condition and not a disease or serious health problem.

Besides age, people can become lactose intolerant due to:

• Ethnic background. People of Asian, African, Native American, and Hispanic backgrounds are more likely to develop lactose intolerance at a young age.
• Other problems with the digestive tract. People who have inflammation of their upper small intestine, such as celiac disease or Crohn's disease, have less of the lactase enzyme.
• Medicines. Some antibiotics can trigger temporary lactose intolerance because they affect how the intestine makes lactase.
• Infection. After a bout of infectious diarrhea, some people can develop a temporary lactose intolerance that usually improves after a few days or weeks.

What Are the Signs & Symptoms of Lactose Intolerance?

Lactose intolerance can cause a variety of symptoms. It all depends on how much dairy or milk-containing foods people consume and how little lactase their body makes.

Usually within 30 minutes to 2 hours after eating, someone with lactose intolerance will have:

• nausea
• stomach cramps
• bloating
• gas
• diarrhea

How Is Lactose Intolerance Diagnosed?

If you might have lactose intolerance, the docto will ask your symptoms and diet. They might test the breath for hydrogen levels before and after you drink lactose. Normally very little hydrogen gas is detectable in the breath. But undigested lactose in the colon breaks down and makes various gases, including hydrogen.

If you have a hydrogen breath test, you'll blow into a tube for a beginning sample. Then you'll swallow a drink with lactose in it, wait a while, and breathe into the tube again. You'll blow into the tube every half hour for 2 hours to measure hydrogen levels. The levels should go up over time if you have lactose intolerance.

Doctors also can find out if someone can digest lactose by testing for the presence of lactase with an endoscopy. During this procedure, doctors view the inside of the intestines by inserting a long tube with a light and a tiny camera on the end into the mouth.

A doctor can then take tissue samples and pictures of the inside of the gut. The amount of lactase enzyme can be measured in one of these tissue samples.

How Is Lactose Intolerance Treated?

People can manage lactose intolerance by not drinking as much milk and eating fewer dairy products. Most can eat a small amount of dairy. But they need to eat it with other foods that don't contain lactose and not eat too much dairy at once.

You may find that other dairy products, such as yogurt and cheeses, are easier to digest than milk. Lactose-free milk is also a great way to get calcium in the diet without the problems. It can also help to keep a food diary to learn which foods you can or can't tolerate.

A lactase enzyme supplement can help too. Taking this before you eat foods that contain dairy helps your body digest the lactose sugar in dairy and prevent pain, cramping, bloating, gas, and diarrhea.

What About Calcium?

Dairy foods are the best source of calcium, a mineral that's important for bone growth. Because teens need about 1,300 milligrams (mg) of calcium each day, experts recommend that even those with lactose intolerance include some dairy in their diet.

You also can eat non-dairy products like:

• calcium-fortified juice or soy milk
• green, leafy vegetables like broccoli, collard greens, kale, and turnip greens
• beans
• salmon
• almonds
• soybeans
• dried fruit
• tofu

Talking to a registered dietitian is a good idea. They're trained in nutrition and can you come up with eating alternatives and develop a well-balanced diet that provides lots of calcium for developing strong bones. Some teens might need calcium and vitamin D supplements.

What is the recommendation of food choices for individuals suffering from lactose intolerance?

What is the best treatment for a person who suffers lactose intolerance?

What recommendations would you make to an adolescence who has lactose intolerance in order to maintain an adequate calcium intake?