Can You Reverse Lactose Intolerance?

Transcript:

Britni: Hey everyone. Welcome back to “Ask a Nutritionist”, our weekly mini episode of Dishing Up Nutrition. I'm Britni Vincent, a Registered and Licensed Dietitian here at Nutritional & Weight Wellness, and today we are tackling the question, can you reverse lactose intolerance? You can probably relate to this, many of you.

Maybe you feel bloated after ice cream, gassy after drinking milk, and maybe you used to not have these symptoms and wondered why your body suddenly changed. Well, this episode is for you, so we are going to cover what lactose intolerance actually is, why it happens, whether it can improve, and what you can realistically do about it.

What is lactose intolerance & how do you develop it?

So first, let's start with the basics. What is lactose intolerance and how do you develop it? Lactose is a natural sugar found in milk and dairy products and to digest it, we require, and our body produces an enzyme called lactase, which breaks down that lactose into simpler sugars that your body can actually absorb.

Lactose intolerance happens when your body doesn't produce enough of that lactase enzyme. When that lactose isn't fully digested, it travels to your colon or bacteria will ferment it, and that's what causes us common symptoms of gas and bloating. So then the question is, how do you develop lactose intolerance?

There are a few main reasons. So genetics is really the most common. Many people are naturally programmed to produce less lactase after childhood and worldwide, lactose intolerance is really actually the norm, not the exception, with about 65 to 70% of the world's population having some degree of lactose intolerance.

So that's, that's most of the population. So you are not alone if you're relating to this, and that means that there's nothing wrong with you if you don't tolerate dairy foods well. You know, there are other situational factors that can be a cause. Conditions like celiac disease, Crohn's, or gut infections that can damage the lining of the small intestine where lactase is produced.

Then just general aging. Lactase production will naturally decline over time for many people as we age. So for most people, lactose intolerance isn't something that suddenly happens. It's more of a gradual shift. And really you can develop lactose intolerance at different stages of your life.

So childhood to adolescence and then into adulthood is when many people start losing lactase activity. It's very common to notice symptoms increase in your twenties, thirties, even possibly later in life. It could also appear after illness. So a stomach bug, a gut infection, can temporarily reduce lactase production, and changes in gut bacteria post antibiotic use can make symptoms much more noticeable.

If this is something you have noticed later in life, maybe thinking back to when it actually started, you could pinpoint to one of these scenarios, or again, just this gradual shift with aging over time. So if you are somebody that is thinking, I used to drink milk all the time and now I can't, you are really not imagining it. And, and I do hear this fairly commonly with my clients.

Symptoms that could show up if you have lactose intolerance

So let's talk more about the symptoms that you would notice if you do have lactose intolerance. Because really it doesn't need a doctor's diagnosis; we can pretty easily determine if you have lactose intolerance, just based how, on how you react to, to dairy products.

So you'll notice that symptoms commonly show up anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours after eating dairy, and they can include bloating, gas, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, nausea. And again, you can think of lactose intolerance as a spectrum.

So these, these symptoms can vary quite a lot from person to person. Some people can tolerate small amounts just fine or certain types of dairy products while others react more strongly to even small amounts of dairy. I do want to make an important distinction. Lactose intolerance and a dairy allergy are often confused, but they're very different conditions.

Lactose intolerance is a digestive issue, whereas a dairy, a true food dairy allergy is an immune system reaction to the proteins in milk, such as casein or whey, which can trigger symptoms ranging from hives, swelling to more serious reactions, like difficulty breathing.

You can also be sensitive to these dairy proteins, which is still an immune response, but less severe than an allergy. And you know, sometimes it can be difficult to pinpoint that on your own. So lactose intolerance is uncomfortable, but it's not dangerous.Whereas a true dairy allergy can be potentially life-threatening and really require strict avoidance of all dairy products.

Can you reverse lactose intolerance?

So now back to the original question. Can you reverse lactose intolerance? The short answer is sometimes you can improve tolerance, but reversing it completely, I think, really depends on the cause. So if your lactose intolerance is due to temporary gut damage, like illness or inflammation, improving gut health can help to restore lactase activity. I have seen this done with clients. They are able to begin to tolerate more dairy products with that gut healing.

But if your lactose intolerance is due to genetics, which is a cause for most people, you are likely are not going to be able to fully reverse it, but you could improve how your body handles lactose. So rather than thinking in black and white, I can or I can't have dairy, it's really more helpful to think in terms of tolerance levels, and this again varies quite a bit from person to person.

What may help to improve lactose tolerance?

So what might help to improve lactose tolerance? So here's a few strategies. First, supporting gut health overall by eating a balanced, real food diet, rich in fiber, including fermented foods for natural probiotics, and addressing underlying gut issues if present. If this is the case for you, of course working with myself or one of the nutritionists at Nutritional Weight & Wellness.

We can help you to heal your gut and potentially start to to be able to tolerate more dairy products. Secondly, if you want to eat some dairy and don't have severe symptoms, then don't completely eliminate lactose unless necessary. So avoidance completely can actually reduce your lactase production over time.

And then another strategy is pair dairy with other foods. So eating lactose with meals slows digestion and reduces symptoms. For example, maybe a small yogurt parfait where you're combining other foods with that yogurt versus a glass of milk or ice cream. Generally you're going to tolerate it better with other foods on board.

Lastly, choosing lower lactose options, so harder cheeses, cheddar, Swiss, Parmesan, are much lower in lactose. Yogurt and kefir can sometimes be better tolerated for some people. Butter also contains very little lactose, so is usually well tolerated versus soft cheeses are going to contain more lactose and much more likely to create symptoms for you.

Dairy foods that are made with goats or sheep's cheese, they do still contain lactose, but depending on the product, often that lactose amount is less than cow's milk. And so commonly the goat or the sheep's products are tolerated better. In addition, goats or sheep's milk products, they do contain smaller fat particles and a different protein structure, primarily something called A2 casein. Those two components also make the goats and the sheep's products generally easier to digest.

So that could also be worth playing around with and experimenting to see what your body is going to tolerate. So in, in this situation, I do like to recommend probiotics that can help. Certain strains can help break down lactose or improve gut adaption, including lactobacillus, acidophilus and bifidobacteria.

So looking at the products on, on Nutrikey, that would include our Biotic 7 product would contain those two strains, as would Biotic Duo. You can take these strains separately as well. So there are a lot of options out there. And those are two strains of bacteria that are very commonly found in probiotics.

Fermented dairy like yogurt and kefir naturally do contain these beneficial bacteria. Again, that's one of the reasons why they're often better tolerated. You know, this being said, probiotics are not the magic fix, but they can be a helpful piece of the puzzle. And if you are a listener of Dishing Up Nutrition, you've heard us talk about the many benefits of probiotics.

The other thing you can do is to have regular exposure of small amounts of lactose. So this, this strategy works well for many people. Gradually exposing your body to small amounts of lactose can actually help your gut bacteria adapt and improve tolerance, but it doesn't actually increase the lactase production. It's, it's working to train your gut bacteria to break down lactose more efficiently.

And this process is called colonic adaption. So think of it like building tolerance over time. You might start with small portions, being consistent, and then as you tolerate it, you can slowly increase the amount. But you know, we don't want to force anything. We don't want you to be miserable with your symptoms. So gentle, consistent exposure could be beneficial.

Dairy is not required to have in the diet nutrient-wise

And you know, if you would rather just avoid dairy altogether, or your symptoms are that severe, there is no reason to, to add dairy back in. You can get all of your nutrients from other food sources. And you know, as a dietitian, I do like to remind clients you don't need dairy foods in your diet.

Would adding Lactaid (lactase enzyme) help or be recommended?

So that being said, clients who want to consume some dairy on occasion will sometimes ask me about using products like lactase enzyme or supplements such as Lactaid. Taking Lactaid before eating dairy products can be helpful for your body to help to digest that lactose and, and reduce your symptoms. But again, it's not fixing lactose intolerance long term. So I like to suggest using these lactase enzymes/supplements for special occasions, but not necessarily using them on a daily basis.

Some lactose-free dairy products are available

You know, the other option is there are products, like lactose free yogurt that is commonly seen in most grocery stores, and I do have some clients that that works really well for. You can also find other lactose free dairy products out there as well.

So can you reverse lactose intolerance? Maybe not fully, but you can improve tolerance possibly. So the goal isn't necessarily to fix it completely. It's really to understand your body and expand your options where possible. You know, over time I personally have some degree of lactose intolerance, so I've just figured out how much I can tolerate.

You know, I do well with some hard cheese. I definitely notice if I have more dairy over a day or a couple days, I am more likely to get symptoms. So just learning how your body responds is going to be really helpful in this situation. And then, you know, it does require a little bit of experimenting as well.

If you found this information helpful, please share it with someone who might be struggling with how to handle lactose intolerance. And as a reminder, if you're a Facebook user and haven't joined our Dishing Up Nutrition community, I encourage you to do so. We invite you to suggest topics for upcoming episodes, as well as connect with other listeners and followers of Nutritional Weight & Wellness.

Join Our Dishing Up Nutrition Facebook Group

You could share recipes, meal planning strategies, and ask for help where needed. So log into Facebook and search Dishing Up Nutrition. And as always, thank you so much for tuning in to Dishing Up Nutrition’s “Ask a Nutritionist” and I will talk to you next time. Thank you.