After eating your favorite cereal and milk for breakfast, you feel bloated and have stomach cramps. Then, the diarrhea starts. What causes these embarrassing symptoms?
If you suffer from gas, cramps, bloating, nausea, or diarrhea after you eat dairy foods, you may be one of the millions of Americans who have lactose intolerance.
Lactose intolerance is an uncomfortable and often embarrassing condition that occurs when your body cannot digest lactose, a sugar found in dairy products. The small intestine produces an enzyme called lactase that breaks down lactose and helps your body absorb it. If your body doesn’t produce enough lactase, you may experience the symptoms of lactose intolerance.
Lactose Intolerance Symptoms
The symptoms of lactose intolerance include:
- Cramps
- Bloating
- Gas
- Diarrhea
- Nausea
Symptoms may be mild or severe. Although there is no cure for lactose intolerance, there are many things you can do to feel better. Your doctor may ask you to keep a diary of the foods you eat and to note when you experience symptoms.
Is It Lactose Intolerance?
Other conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome may cause symptoms similar to lactose intolerance. These conditions, however, may not require you to limit your dairy intake as much.
Your doctor may perform medical tests to help diagnose lactose intolerance. These tests may include:
- Hydrogen Breath Test. Normally you have very little hydrogen in your breath. But if your body does not digest lactose, then levels of hydrogen will build up in your intestines and will eventually pass out of your body through your breath. During this test, you’ll drink a beverage containing lactose. Then your breath will be analyzed over time for hydrogen content.
- Lactose Tolerance Test. This blood test measures the amount of glucose in your blood. After you have fasted, a blood sample is taken, and then you drink a liquid that is high in lactose. After two hours, more blood is drawn. Lactose causes glucose blood levels to rise. If glucose levels in the second sample are not higher, you have not digested the lactose.
- Stool Acidity Test. This test is used to diagnose lactose intolerance in children. A stool sample is collected after an infant or child drinks liquid containing lactose. If lactose is not digested, it forms lactic acid and other acids. The acidity of the stool is measured.
It’s Lactose Intolerance. What Now?
There is no cure for lactose intolerance, but you can reduce or even eliminate lactose intolerance symptoms by limiting the dairy products you eat. For many people, it is not necessary to get rid of dairy completely. You may be able to eat dairy foods in small quantities.
Effective lactose intolerance treatment involves talking to your doctor or a registered dietitian to help plan a healthy diet that keeps you feeling good. A food diary may help you determine how much, if any, dairy you can eat without experiencing lactose intolerance symptoms.
For many people, treatments may help prevent lactose intolerance symptoms. These products include:
- Lactase enzyme replacement tablets or caplets. Taking these with your first drink or bite of dairy may help prevent lactose intolerance symptoms.
- Lactose-free or reduced-lactose milk and dairy products. Many manufacturers now offer dairy products that have had most of the lactose removed or lactase added to the products.
- Dairy-free products. There are many alternatives to dairy, such as soy or rice milk.
