Lactose intolerance?

Question

What are the causes, symptoms, and reasons for Lactose Intolerance? What to do?

Answer 1

your body makes lactase to process the sugar lactose. when your body stops making lactase you cannot digest lactose and you develop lactose intolerance. symptoms vary from person to person. some people get a lot of gas or cramps and some people get diahrea. I have had lactose intolerance for almost 25 years. there are a lot of otc pills that you take before eating or drinking dairy. i can now eat pizza and ice cream and drink milk they really work

Answer 2

Lactose intolerance is genetic, and comes in varying degrees of severity. Some lactose intolerant people can't handle even a small bit of milk; others might not have trouble unless they have an entire milkshake or something. Severity may also increase or decrease with time, so something that you could handle as a kid may give you trouble as an adult; or as you age, things may not bother you as much as they used to.

Symptoms include upset stomach, cramps, bloating, gas, diarrhea.

The easiest way to deal with lactose intolerance is to avoid milk and milk products (cheese, yogurt, sour cream, etc.) If you do eat milk products, try taking Lactaid (or generic equivalent) before/during your meal. It should alleviate or even eliminate your symptoms. Lactaid is available over the counter at any drugstore (Walgreens, CVS, Target, etc.)

Answer 3

Your body isn't producing the enzyme necessary for proper digestion of lactose (milk sugar). Some people can tolerate varying amounts of lactose, others can't tolerate the slightest trace. The best advice is to stop ingesting lactose, don't eat dairy! If your body rejects something, listen to your body.
When you are out of sync with your body, other health issues are more likely to pop up, if not quickly, overtime. It is best to maintain optimum health all of the time. When your nutritional and/or health status is compromised in anyway, you may be less well equipped to handle the unforeseen things that may compromise your health.
Contrary to common belief, dairy is not necessary for a healthy diet. This is especially true if you are experiencing any ill effects. We're not cows/calves, remember.

Answer 4

From a detailed biological standpoint that may be over your head:

Your genetic information that codes for lac-z (the enzyme that breaks down lactose) is being "shut off" by an inhibitor protein. In a normal functioning system, lactose binds to the inhibitor protein, removing it from the region coding for lac-z, to allow RNA Polymerase (the stuff that makes your lac-z to break down lactose) to do its job and make that enzyme for you. Because of some other issues, your system There are some other molecules that aid in the production of the lac-z, that you body may be inefficiently making. I am unsure what they will tell you in the medical community, but I know in the biological community, the less glucose you have in your system, the more efficiently you can make the lac-z.

So avoiding starches and carbohydrates may help with this, but I'm no doctor. I just study biology. I would recommend you present that information to your doctor and see what he/she says.