by We always say “we are what we eat”. Let me help you understand this statement in detail.
As you read the term “lactose intolerance” you must be wondering it is something to do with milk. Some might even think it’s the disease of privileged and elites. The harsh reality is anybody can start suffering from lactose intolerance. To enlighten you more, lactose intolerance is a condition in which the lactose present in milk and milk products is not being digested due to the lack or reduced production of the enzyme-lactase thereby causing gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, borborygmi, nausea and even headache sometimes.
Lactose is a disaccharide present in milk and milk products. It is consisting of glucose and galactose. We need the enzyme lactase to hydrolyze into glucose and galactose and when our intestine is producing less or no lactase then this un-hydrolyzed lactose gets fermented in the colon producing carbon dioxide, methane and short chain fatty acids and ultimately causing abdominal discomfort such as abdominal pain, vomiting, farting and diarrhoea and also interfere with overall good nutritional health.
If you try looking at the prevalence map of lactose intolerance you will find out that India and many other Asian countries suffer from lactose intolerance, as low as 50% to as high as 100% in some countries.
India is a country of hustlers. When we are running vehemently towards our goal and making ends meet its not possible to stop back and analyze what caused the stomach pain last night or during brunch with childhood buddies so what we do is end up popping a pill because it helps us to ease the discomfort temporarily. So, what we need to do is understand the condition, think about options to identify it and think treatment options.
Diagnostic tools such as breath analyzer, biopsy and ultimately gene analysis are methods to identify it. To treat, the immediate response comes as “avoidance of milk and milk products”. Now how practical and logical is it!! In our country which is famous for its kheer, payasam, rabri and a glass of milk daily for kids it hardly possible for us to completely avoid it.
Need not worry, every story has a wonder woman, our wonder woman is “lactose reduced milk”. This is a type of dairy milk in which lactase is present in the bottle itself so you won’t be feeling the discomfort which you ideally do. Trust me when I say this its taste as normal as your standard dairy milk, you can use it as you want. Drink it, make coffee out of it or your dad’s favourite “adrak wali chai”.
Secondly if you are someone who doesn’t like milk either way and can miss out milk and milk products from your diet, please don’t forget to adds loads of green leafy vegetables (ever thought why milk is rich in calcium, what does the cow eat??), sesame seeds, sea foods and calcium fortified soy milk or almond milk to have adequate calcium.
Lastly, I have 2 requests, dairy companies please come up more with lactose reduced milk (you can thank me later) and secondly to my readers, please pay attention to what you eat when and how is your gut reacting to it. No meeting, nothing is worth gulping your food mindlessly and suffer from abdominal discomfort, eventually this will affect your work performance. Listen your gut..
Author:Dr. Debanjana Bhattacharyya
Temporary Assistant Professor,
Department of Foods and Nutrition,
The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.
