More Lactase, Please

Press releases lie. That's not really a condemnation of them. It's their job description. No matter what the product is or what it does, the press release will make it sound far more wonderful, perfect, effective, and useful than it can possibly be. Smart consumers have learned to go beyond the press release and dig up the real facts.

You want an example? Naturally, I have one handy. It's from National Enzyme Company announcing their new BioCor^e™ line of digestive enzymes. Yes, the whole product line really has that crazy, er, nifty raised, italicized ^e as part of its name.

And naturally, there's a dairy supplement that's part of the line:

BioCor^e Dairy™ is a potent formula comprised of lactase and protease designed to alleviate symptoms associated with dairy intolerance. BioCor^e Dairy Ultra™ is an enhanced dairy formulation targeting milk fat in addition to dairy intolerance.

I have a page in my Product Clearinghouse for Lactase Pills. That page has all the name brand lactase pills available in the U.S. that I know of that meet my standards. The biggest and pretty much only standard that you need to worry about is whether a pill has enough lactase in it to do the job of relieving symptoms due to lactose intolerance. Since you can take more than one pill at a time, I set that standard fairly low at 1500 FCC units. (That can also be expressed as 1500 Lac U. or 1500 ALU or 100 mg.)

What you don't see on that page are many pills that contain other digestive enzymes. That's because there is not the slightest scientific evidence that other digestive enzymes make any difference at all in controlling symptoms from lactose. Only lactase counts. If you have enough lactase, then the digestive enzymes added are meaningless, although probably harmless. If you don't have enough lactase, then all the other digestive enzymes won't do a thing.

So what about BioCor^e Dairy™ and BioCor^e Dairy Ultra™? Some digging at the National Enzyme website shows that they contain 1000 ALU. Not enough to make them effective, and not enough to make them cost effective since you would need to take several at a time to feel any relief. I won't be adding those pills to my website.

Sorry, National Enzyme. But I know not to believe the wonders promised by press releases. I hope you readers now do as well.