HEALTH ISSUE: Think you can't tolerate lactose?

Think you can't tolerate lactose?

You may be wrong

New York: If you've cut down on milk because you think your gut can't tolerate the sugar in it, you might be doing your health a disservice, according to a spanish study.

         

        Researchers from the Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona found more than half the patients who thought they couldn't digest lactose were mistaken.

        When they drank a lactose solution that was equivalent to a quart of milk in the lab, their gut absorbed the sugar normally and they experienced less cramping, gas and other bowel trouble than at home. "There is extended belief that these are caused by lactose in dairy products." the researchers said.

        The ability to digest lactose depends on an enzyme in the gut called lactase. When there isn't enough of this enzyme, bacteria feast on the leftover sugar, producing lots of gasses. 

         In contrast to this so-called lactose malabsorption or maldigestion, 

lactose intolerance refers to the symptoms-- for instance, flatulence and stomach pain -- that occur after ingesting lactose.