Thursday, March 4, 2010

Lactose Intolerance Shouldn't Exclude Dairy From Diet?

So we were reading an article on lactose intolerance and I wanted to share it to see what your views are:

NIH panel concludes lactose intolerant shouldn't avoid dairy

People may avoid milk and other dairy products due to concerns about lactose intolerance, but eliminating these nutrient-rich foods may be unnecessary to manage the condition and could impact diet and health, a panel of experts assembled by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has concluded.


The NIH Consensus Development Conference on Lactose Intolerance & Health was convened to examine the latest research on lactose intolerance, strategies to manage the condition and the health outcomes of diets that exclude dairy foods. Lactose is the natural sugar in milk and some people lack sufficient amounts of an enzyme that is needed to comfortably digest lactose.


After a thorough review of the scientific evidence, the panel completed a draft consensus statement that is intended to correct some of the common misperceptions about lactose intolerance, including the belief that dairy foods need to be excluded from the diet.

Read more here on their website

So, what do you think about this?

2 comments:

Katrina said...

I don't fully agree with the article. More than couple servings of regular dairy in a week really bothers my lactose intolerant child, but I have found an exception- my homemade yogurt made from whole milk. If I let it culture for at least 24 hours the live bacteria (that are so good for us) consume almost all of the lactose. He can't handle store bought yogurt like many that are lactose intolerant but my homemade is fine. I feel good knowing he benefits from dairy without being sick from lactose. I can use the yogurt in place of a lot of milk in recipes too! (oh and lactose free milk seems to be fine too) I think there's a lot of good stuff in milk but I don't think its essential for survival.

Anonymous said...

My son would have allergic reactions out of nowhere when he was little. The Dr told me to reintroduce him to dairy after a month. I felt that was weird. I personally feel that if your body is having a reaction to something then maybe it shouldn't be forced. We have elminated most dairy for a variety of reasons including the chemical changes made during pasturization. I think it's interesting that we are the only mammals on the planet who drink milk throughout life. Just my personal thoughts- to each her own!

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin

What things are most Important to Store?