Lactose Qustion

[niki rothman]

Does any chowhound know if butter and yogurt contain lactose? how about cheeses? Hard cheese like parm.? Semi-soft like meunster? Cream cheese?

Thanks!

[tom porc]

Sadly, it's a trial and error thing. As the same kind of hard cheese can have various amounts of lactose depending on brand.

Even yogurt is a gamble. I cant eat Fage but Yoplait is no problem.

[Missyme]

My son, who is severely lactose-intolerant, has good results when he uses Lact-Aid tablets before he indulges. He can eat pretty much all the cheese he likes (and man, can he eat!) after a couple of those babies.

[ekammin]

I used to think that lactose intolerance was mainly found in Asian people, and that it was congenital. A Chinese friend has been lactose intolerant her entire life, and passed it on to her children, although they are just half Chinese.

Now my wife tells me that it is often found in Ashkenazic Jews, and further more, it can develop as one get older. Can anyone enlighten me on this?

[niki rothman]

I would be happy to chat about this - nonfood issue - if you email me - my email address is on my "my chow" page.

[mselectra]

I'm no expert but believe it's common with pretty much anybody who's not descended from northern Europeans, where cow's milk has been a regular part of the diet so long -- although obviously must vary. It's an issue among Native Americans and I think African Americans... (Actually was a plot point in an early Barbara Kingsolver novel, about adopting an Amer Ind baby, fwiw) Sorry, I see this has gone too ot? But BK just wrote a food book, anyway :)

[mugsimo]

I did a research project on this a few years ago. Basically, humans can't digest lactose (milk sugar) without the enzyme lactase. How much lactase you produce is genetically determined. Because of breastfeeding, all infants produce more lactase and the ability to produce it into adulthood varies. On average, Northern Europeans produce the most and Asians produce the least. (Ever notice how there isn't much dairy in traditional Asian cuisines?) It isn't an all-or-nothing kind of thing, either; there can be varying degrees of intolerance in adulthood. It can be hard to diagnose because some of the GI distress caused by lactose intolerance can also be related to dairy allergy and/or general difficulty digesting the high fat found in most dairy.

Here's an interesting article about the ability to digest lactose:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/sci...

[jillp]

If you're thinking of them in terms of serving them to someone who is lactose-intolerant, I can help you out, since I have that tedious problem.

Soft cheeses have more lactose, hard cheeses have very little. Yogurt gives me no trouble at all. Milk will cause me to double over in pain within just a few minutes. I cannot imagine eating anough butter to cause a problem. I'm willing to try, though.

Years ago, Jeffrey Steingarten did a wonderful piece on lactose intolerance; it's in one of his books. He's absolutely correct when he says that lactose-intolerant people can generally handle up to a cup of dairy without becoming sick.

[niki rothman]

Thanks! I'll look for that essay online.

[queencru]

I also find that if I eat dairy for dinner, I'm much more likely to have cramps than when I eat it at lunch. Something that will cause me no problems if I eat it at lunch will make me double over in pain if eaten at dinner. I typically restrict dairy to one meal a day so I don't know why this happens.

[wino22]

Yogurt works for me too, as does cottage cheese, but man - milk will make my stomach look like I swallowed a balloon!

[Ruth Lafler]

I was talking about this with my sister just the other day. She said in most people lactose intolerance is caused by their bodies not making the enzyme (lactase) that it needs to breakdown lactose. Although yogurt does contain lactose, it also contains naturally occurring lactase, which means a lot of people who are lactose intolerant have fewer problems with yogurt than with other high-lactose foods.

[JungMann]

I was about to say: yogurt is my primary way of obtaining calcium since I tolerate it well, even when full fat. I'll have to test the aged cheese theory as I've had some old cheddars which still made me plenty sick, much sicker than even brie can make me.

[mkwng]

Generally, aged cheeses have little or no lactose, which is converted to lactic acid during the aging process. Butter has little lactose, but processed cheeses and yogurt usually have more.

[Melanie Wong]

That's right. Here's a link to a long thread on the issue regarding the relative lactose content of various types of cheeses.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/348259