Answers to Questions from Readers, part 8

Q.a. Some years ago a doctor told me citrus fruits contain milk sugar, which experience tells me is the case. Is this information well known? I have never seen any reference to it in the literature.

Q.b. A girlfriend who is LI claims that chicken contains lactose and causes the exact same symptoms for her as a nice big glass of milk. I think she's whacked. Is she?

a. This information is missing from the literature because there is no foundation to it. Milk sugar is found in milk and nowhere else in nature. The sugar in citrus fruits is fructose.

b. You bet she is. Lactose comes from milk. Period. But people with LI often have problems with other foods and confuse the symptoms.

Q. If I take lactose pills or lactose-reduced milk, is this depriving the baby of any needed nutrients during pregnancy or breastfeeding?

Absolutely not. All that happens is that the lactose, the sugar in milk, is broken down to its parts. This is exactly what occurs in digestion. Your body gets exactly the other nutrients it would otherwise get.

If lactase pills work for you, then take them as often as needed. If you are still bothered by symptoms, then you may want to try less milk and either increase your consumption of other foods high in calcium or take calcium supplements. But LI will be the least of your concerns.

Q. Other than cost, is there a problem with using lactase tablets at every meal (or every lunch)? Is there a limit on how many one should take?

No problems and no limits, although after the first few you're probably not going to get much additional help by taking more.

For more information on everything lactase, see the Lactase page in the LI Basics section of my web site.

Q. Is burping a symptom of LI?

Not normally. The gas almost always comes out the other end. You should have your doctor look at stomach-related problems rather than intestine-related problems like LI.

Q. I'm at the end of my first week of eating no dairy products to see if I am LI. Can I simplify this work a bit and assume that if the nutrition breakdown shows 0% calcium, that there is no lactose in the product?

Nope, sorry. Lactose is milk sugar. It has absolutely nothing to do with calcium.

The only way to tell whether a product is lactose free is to study the ingredients list and make sure that there are no milk products on it. If you aren't sure what all the names for milk products are (and many people don't know that whey is mostly lactose) you should check the Dairy Facts section of my web site and take a look at the various pages there.