Lactose Intolerance Dietitians Brisbane
After drinking milk or eating milk-based products, do suffer from any of the following within 30 minutes to 2 hours?
- Abdominal discomfort
- Bloated stomach
- Diarrhoea
- Flatulence (or Excessive Wind)
If you answered yes for any of the above-listed symptoms, there is a possibility you may be lactose intolerant.
The good news is, we can help you.
What is lactose intolerance?
Lactose is a carbohydrate found in dairy products, notably milk.
Once you have ingested a dairy product, the enzyme lactase will help your body to break down the lactose into its two sugar components, galactose and glucose. This is an essential process for your body to absorb the lactose. But when your body doesn’t produce enough lactase enzymes, this process is compromised. As a result, you experience abdominal pain, a bloated stomach and diarrhoea due to the unabsorbed lactose festering in your colon.
Lactose intolerance is a common digestive disorder caused by your body’s inability to absorb lactose due to lactase deficiency, or low lactase levels. Babies have high lactase levels owing to their milk-rich diet, but as they age, these levels decrease.
Lactose intolerance can also be the result of gastroenteritis, a stomach illness that temporarily weakens your body’s ability to absorb lactose.
Do I have lactose intolerance?
Lactose intolerance is frequently mistaken for other medical conditions, like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It will be best for you to consult with a healthcare professional to receive the correct diagnosis about your condition. Self-diagnosis carries the high risk of inaccuracy, which may lead you to mistakenly remove dairy from your diet and forego the health benefits they bring.
Is it common?
Yes, lactose intolerance is a fairly common condition particularly in the Australian Aborigine population, as well as Asian, African, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries. An estimated one out of 20 Caucasians suffer from lactose intolerance.
What should I do if I have an intolerance to lactose?
Just because you are lactose intolerant doesn’t mean you have to go on a strict, no dairy diet.
Everyone suffers from symptoms of lactose intolerance differently, but one proven way to minimise the discomfort it brings is to simply adjust your lactose consumption according to your level of tolerance.
The Australian Dietary Guidelines state that people diagnosed with lactose intolerance can still consume one glass (or 250ml) of milk each day, as long as it is taken with additional foods and in minimal amounts during the whole day.
You can still eat cheese even if you are lactose intolerant because most types of cheese have low lactose levels. Eating yoghurt is not only possible but encouraged for people with lactose intolerance because the bacteria in it helps break down lactose.
Let us help you manage your lactose intolerance
Our team of dedicated, certified dietitians at New Life Nutrition have years of experience in helping people all over Brisbane identify and manage their lactose intolerance. Even the FAILSAFE support group recommends our nutritionists and dietitians, whom they have worked closely with.
We follow the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital’s (RPAH) elimination diet to determine and manage your food sensitivities. This method of food intolerance testing allows us to pinpoint which foods are triggering your unpleasant body reactions with greater accuracy. With the proper support from our experienced dietitians and nutritionists, many of our patients found an elimination diet need not be an extremely difficult process.
Once you are diagnosed with lactose intolerance, we can help ensure that you will still get proper nutrition and the essential nutrients, particularly calcium. This is vital for your optimal health, especially for children. Banning dairy from your diet is not advisable, even though you suspect you may have lactose intolerance. Hard and mature cheese have no lactose at all, while butter, cream, butter, cottage cheese and ricotta only have very little amounts. In fact, many people diagnosed with lactose intolerance are able to consume tiny portions of lactose with mild symptoms.
If you develop hives and start wheezing right after consuming milk, you probably have a milk allergy — you are allergic to the proteins found in milk – and you may not be lactose intolerant.
Our expert dietitians at New Life Nutrition are ready to assist you in living a healthier life even with your lactose intolerance condition. Book your appointment now.
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