What is Lactose Intolerance?

Up to 50 million Americans have lactose intolerance, meaning they lack the ability to break down dairy sugar. If you are lactose intolerant, it can impact your ability to break down dairy foods like milk, cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese and ice cream. When you don’t have enough enzymes to digest the dairy you eat, your body retains water in the gut, resulting in uncomfortable symptoms like occasional bloating and irregularity. That’s a surefire way to make that extra cheese pizza turn into an extra-uncomfortable experience!

Thankfully, digestive enzyme supplements can offer support for lactose intolerance.* The most powerful lactose intolerance capsules from Enzymedica are called Lacto®. This formula breaks down dairy-heavy meals.* Say “welcome back” to creamy fettuccine alfredo, four-cheese pizza and double scoops of ice cream! While fast-acting Lacto includes lactase for digesting lactose, it also includes protease for complete dairy digestion.* Protease, a protein-digesting enzyme, helps break down casein and other dairy proteins, so that every part of the dairy product is easily digested.

We also offer DairyAssist®, which breaks down dairy sugar and dairy protein.* It can be taken daily with each meal to enjoy ice cream and cheese – to reduce occasional gas and bloating.* It contains dual-action, dairy intolerance enzymes that quickly break down both lactose (dairy sugar) and casein (dairy protein).*

Lactase is the digestive enzyme that breaks down lactose, the sugar found in dairy. Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest lactose; lactase deficiency is the shortage of the enzyme lactase.

Many things can lead to lactase deficiencies, from age and genetics to being born without the ability to produce lactase. The root cause comes from a lack of this lactose-digesting enzyme in the gut. According to research, about 15% of people who have northern European heritage have a lactase deficiency. Up to 80% of Black and Latino adults and up to 100% of adults of Native American and Asian heritage may also be deficient in this enzyme.

Enzymes are designed to break down a specific kind of food or compound, so the more or less lactase we have, the better or worse we can digest lactose. This enzyme works by breaking down lactose, which is difficult to digest, and turning it into the sugar glucose, something easy to digest.

Lactose intolerance symptoms and lactase deficiency symptoms include gas, bloating and discomfort after eating foods that contain dairy.* While avoiding dairy is an option, it’s not the only one – especially if you do enjoy eating foods that contain butter, milk, cottage cheese, heavy cream, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc.