Intolerance to lactose may be in the mind
Source: Agencies |
May 7, 2010, Friday
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IF you've cut down on milk because you think your gut can't tolerate the sugar in it, you might be doing your health a disservice, according to a Spanish study.
Researchers from the Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona found more than half the patients who thought they couldn't digest lactose were mistaken.
When they drank a lactose solution that was equivalent to a quart of milk in the lab, their gut absorbed the sugar normally and they experienced less cramping, gas and other bowel trouble than at home.
"There is extended belief among patients with abdominal symptoms that these are caused by lactose in dairy products," the researchers wrote in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
"Although one should think that symptom intensity has to be greater after a large lactose load than in daily life at home, our study shows just the opposite."
The ability to digest lactose depends on an enzyme in the gut called lactase. When there isn't enough of this enzyme, bacteria feast on the leftover sugar, producing lots of gasses in the process.
In contrast to this so-called lactose malabsorption or maldigestion, lactose intolerance refers to the symptoms such as flatulence and stomach pain that occur after ingesting lactose.
The new study adds to a body of evidence showing that perceived lactose intolerance may actually not be rooted in a biological inability to absorb the sugar.
Symptoms
Of 353 individuals referred to specialists for suspected lactose maldigestion, as many as 189 turned out to absorb the sugar normally, with fewer symptoms than at home.
It's not entirely clear why people would develop symptoms but the researchers speculated that some patients could be suffering from irritable bowel syndrome which has similar symptoms. Another possibility is that the symptoms are linked to a memory of earlier over-consumption.
"If you did have an instance when you consumed too much, then you'd have symptoms, and you'd remember that," said Carol J. Boushey, a nutritional scientist at Purdue University in Indiana, who was not involved in the study.
Boushey said cutting back on dairy products could lead to lower bone mass, higher blood pressure and colon cancer.
Researchers from the Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona found more than half the patients who thought they couldn't digest lactose were mistaken.
When they drank a lactose solution that was equivalent to a quart of milk in the lab, their gut absorbed the sugar normally and they experienced less cramping, gas and other bowel trouble than at home.
"There is extended belief among patients with abdominal symptoms that these are caused by lactose in dairy products," the researchers wrote in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
"Although one should think that symptom intensity has to be greater after a large lactose load than in daily life at home, our study shows just the opposite."
The ability to digest lactose depends on an enzyme in the gut called lactase. When there isn't enough of this enzyme, bacteria feast on the leftover sugar, producing lots of gasses in the process.
In contrast to this so-called lactose malabsorption or maldigestion, lactose intolerance refers to the symptoms such as flatulence and stomach pain that occur after ingesting lactose.
The new study adds to a body of evidence showing that perceived lactose intolerance may actually not be rooted in a biological inability to absorb the sugar.
Symptoms
Of 353 individuals referred to specialists for suspected lactose maldigestion, as many as 189 turned out to absorb the sugar normally, with fewer symptoms than at home.
It's not entirely clear why people would develop symptoms but the researchers speculated that some patients could be suffering from irritable bowel syndrome which has similar symptoms. Another possibility is that the symptoms are linked to a memory of earlier over-consumption.
"If you did have an instance when you consumed too much, then you'd have symptoms, and you'd remember that," said Carol J. Boushey, a nutritional scientist at Purdue University in Indiana, who was not involved in the study.
Boushey said cutting back on dairy products could lead to lower bone mass, higher blood pressure and colon cancer.
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