In the United States about 25 percent of the population may experience problems when drinking milk and other products high in lactose. In this group, about 90 percent of Asian-Americans, 80 percent of African-Americans, 80 percent of Native Americans, 62 to 100 percent of Native-Americans, 53 percent of Mexican-Americans and 15 percent of Causians experience lactose intolerance.
Some populations have lower levels of lactose, an enzyme that helps in the digestion of lactose found in milk and dairy products. A professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine points out that in addition to these US populations internationally, 15 to 20 percent of Scandinavians, 70 percent of those from southern Italy, 70 percent of Ashkenari Jews and the majority of Mediterranean Arab populations also experience a high prevalence of lactose intolerance.
However, if you belong to one of these groups, do not simply assume you are lactose intolerant and attribute all of your GI problems to this disorder. Many people who self-report lactose digestion problems have never been formally diagnosed by a physician, an important first step in alleviating symptoms. If you are diagnosed as lactose intolerant, it is still important that you include an adequate amount of calcium in your diet. Some populations predisposed to lactose intolerance are also at a higher risk of colon cancer, stroke, osteoporosis and hypertension. In these diseases, low calcium intake is a risk factor, so it is important to find alternate sources for calcium in you diet if you are lactose intolerant.
Dairy products are the best way to meet calcium requirements, and a diagnosis of lactose intolerance does not necessarily mean that you have to eliminate milk and milk products completely from your diet. People suffer from varying degrees of intolerance, and sometimes the amount of lactose consumed at one sitting can affect your body’s tolerance.
Some people are successful at gradually introducing dairy in their daily diet. One strategy is to drink milk with a meal rather than by itself. Another is to try adjusting the amount of milk consumed at one given time. For example, you might try drinking 1/2 cup of milk. If you can tolerate that, later try 1/4 of a cup and so on, until you discover the level at which your symptoms begin to develop. Continuing exposure to lactose can increase your tolerance over time.
Some dairy foods are better than others when it comes to digestion. Yogurt is usually the easiest to tolerate because it contains the enzyme lactase, which helps the body digest lactose. Drinking whole milk rather than low-fat milk helps in digestion because whole milk leaves the stomach more slowly. Also many cheeses are fairly easy to tolerate, including hard cheeses such as swiss, colby and cheddar. Other sources of calcium include green leafy vegetables and fish. Finally, your doctor can assist you in deciding if calcium supplement would be beneficial.