"Clearly a Case of Lactose Intolerance." Groan.

Who says judges don't have a sense of humor? Or does the credit/blame go to the columnist?

I don't know what to make John Goff's seriously deranged Good Week/Bad Week column over at CFO.com. But I'm going to quote a piece of it anyway.

In one of the most bizarre cases of corporate fraud in U.S. history — and that's saying something — the CEO and CFO of now-defunct cheese maker Suprema Specialties Inc. were indicted Monday on charges that they perpetuated a massive scam. The swindle? They didn't actually have any cheese at the cheese shop (cue bouzouki music). "Suprema was essentially an illusion as a business and a lie for investors," said U.S. Attorney Christopher "Chris" Christie at a press conference. "It was in business to provide a means for fraud. There's not even an SIC code for that."

According to reports, Mark Cocchiola, the 49-year-old founder of Suprema, and Steven Venechanos, the company's former chief financial officer, were charged in a 38-count federal court indictment. Charges include bank fraud, securities fraud, mail fraud, and ruminant fraud. In addition, at the arraignment on Wednesday, the two former executives both acknowledged that deep down, they feel like frauds. "We don't like cheese, or milk for that matter,' Venechanos told a judge. "We won't even sit at the same dinner table with a carton of milk." The judge later classified the fraud as a hate crime, telling defense attorneys "this is clearly a case of lactose intolerance."

The defendents were cowed by the judge. "I couldn't have herd him correctly," one of them later said. "He was milking it for the spectators," remarked a baliff. A court analyst pontificated, "No whey do they get a condensed sentence. It'll go sour for them. But that's what they get for skimming." Rimshot.

Milk For the Lactose Intolerant?

You should know by now that even if you're lactose intolerant, yogurt is the dairy product that's for you. The live and active cultures that make yogurt yogurt help to digest the lactose that's in the milk. It's auto-digesting, as the tech types talk. And those bacteria will reproduce in your colon, driving out the bad bacteria that ferment lactose and cause the symptoms of gas, bloating, and flatulence that make lactose intolerance a misery.

But what if milk did that? Real, drinkable milk?

That's the theory behind Dannon's DanActive. Known for years in Europe as Actimel, DanActive is currently making the big rollout into American stores.

Okay, technically, DanActive isn't milk but a "cultured dairy drink." (In fact, when it was first test-marketed the company labeled it a dietary supplement. I like the change because as a dairy drink it gets regulated by the FDA and has to display the full set of nutrition information mandated by law.) It contains 10 times as many bacterial cultures as the best yogurt, using Lactobaccilis casei, Lactobacillis bulgaricus, and Streptococcus thermophilus. These are lactic acid bacteria, similar to the ones traditionally used in yogurt and cheeses. DanActive also gets to claim all the benefits of probiotics, which are all the marketing rage.

Halfway between milk and yogurt drinks in texture, DanActive comes in blueberry, strawberry, vanilla, and plain.

So. Does it work? They say yes.

People who have difficulty digesting lactose may tolerate products that contain live and active cultures, such as DANACTIVE. The cultures begin breaking down the lactose while the product ferments and also while being digested. Because of this, dairy products with live and active cultures may be tolerated.

DanActive is being sold in Whole Food Market stores, among others. I don't have one near by and I haven't seen the product in any local stores.

UPDATE 2007: The DanActive Store locator shows that it is in supermarkets all over the country.

Interesting idea, though. If you try some, let me know what you think.

Non-Dairy Chocolates from Chocolate Renaissance

Chris Buhr let me know about her firm, Chocolate Renaissance.

Chris has an impressive resume. According to the site:

Chef Christine Buhr is a pastry chef with a mission. Classically trained at the International Culinary Arts Center under the tutelage of former White House Chef Albert Kumin, Chef Buhr successfully competed on the national scene as a Gold Medal winner with Felicitations of the Jury and First Prize in Chocolate Candies and Confections three years in a row at the Societe Culinaire Philanthropique, the grande damme of culinary competitions in the United States. Held at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City in conjunction with the International Hotel and Restaurant Show, this competition attracts premiere chefs in every discipline.

The site features non-dairy chocolates for those with lactose intolerance or milk allergies or the other milk avoiders in our midsts. They're also certified kosher by the Va'ad ha Rabbonim of MA. (However, the candies are made in a facility which contains nuts and so trace cross-contamination may be possible.)

A variety of truffles and other chocolate candies are available, as are Ballotins, an assortment of truffles, fondant filled candies, giandujias (hazelnut praline), nut clusters and solid pieces.

Ordering is done through the web site, www.chocolaterenaissance.com. For more information, call 617-777-7056 or email them at petit4@netscape.com.

World Allergy Day

Happy World Allergy Day, everyone. Sorry I didn't get you a card.

The World Allergy Association has proclaimed July 8, 2005, as the first World Allergy Day. Although food allergies are not their prime concern, there's no reason not to take advantage of it for spreading awareness of those as well.

You can download a World Allergy Day Kit, whose materials include:

• General Instructions
  
• Sample Proclamation
  
• Sample Media Advisory Information
  
• Sample News Release
  
• Sample Article for a Newsletter
  
• Allergy and Allergic Asthma Information Statistical Sheet
  
• National Data on Prevalence of Allergic Disease
  
• World Allergy Organization Guidelines on the Prevention of Allergy and Allergic Asthma Materials:
  
• Article
  
• Patient Information Sheets
  
• Power PointPresentation
  
• Evaluation Form

The World Allergy Day site also has a great set of International Organization Links.

You can also fill in a form to receive their monthly e-letter, WAO News and Notes.

While having a capital "D" day is no more than a publicity opportunity, it makes for a great springboard to have every day be an allergy awareness day. Spread the word.

Finlandia Lactose-Free Cheese

The good people over at Valio Ltd. make lactose-free Finlandia Cheese, imported from Finland.

They even go so far as to explain their process:

The statement below explains the microbiological phenomenon that causes Finlandia Cheeses to be lactose free. Traces of lactose may be found in Havarti cheese, but levels are well below the limit accepted for a lactose-free claim.

Finlandia Swiss cheese is manufactured from milk which is coagulated by heat and microbial rennet. After coagulation the cheese is fermented with a souring agent containing lactobacilli, Streptococcus thermophilus and propionic acid bacteria. Within 24 hours, these bacteria break down the lactose into galactose and glucose. These are fermented further to lactic acid. Lactic acid is then fermented to acetic acid, propionic acid and carbon dioxide so that Finlandia Swiss does not contain lactose or any other carbohydrates.

Finlandia Muenster, Gouda and Havarti cheeses are manufactured from milk which is coagulated by heat and microbial rennet. After coagulation the cheeses are fermented with a souring agent containing lactococci and lactobacilli. Within 24 hours, these bacteria break down the lactose into galactose and glucose. These are fermented further to lactic acid. Therefore these Finlandia cheeses do not contain lactose or any other carbohydrates.

There are no international regulations to determine "lactose free". Valio Ltd is using "lactose free"- claim, when lactose cannot be found in the product (f. ex. cheese). Valio is using the best possible method (ion chromatographic method) to analyze lactose. The resolution for the method is 0,01%, which means that we can find 100 ppm (parts per million) of lactose from cheese. So, when we are calling cheese as lactose free, it contains less than 100 ppm lactose. Sometimes it is possible to find very small amounts (100 -200 ppm) of lactose from havarti type cheese. For example, normal semi skimmed pasteurized milk contains about 5% of lactose (50000 ppm).

The cheese page gives the varieties. The Swiss comes in regular and light, with 50% less fat; there's regular Muenster and Oltermanni Baby Muenster; the Sandwich Naturals are available in Muenster, Finlandia Swiss, Oltermanni, Heavenly Light Swiss, Havarti, and Gouda; and the Finlandia Naturals Deli Sticks in Muenster, Finlandia Swiss, Heavenly Light Swiss, Havarti, and Gouda.

Since the Viola and Lappi are not mentioned in the lactose free section, I would assume that they're made with a different process.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Anti-Milk Campaign

Hey, here's an idea. If you're LI and don't like it, sue. Sue who? Why not sue the dairy industry?

Nutty? Of course. But as a publicity stunt it's top notch, if you're a group with an agenda.

The group is the rabidly pro-animal rights and militantly vegan Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). Since they're based in the District of Columbia, they plan to file suit against dairy producers on behalf of D.C. residents who are lactose intolerant. They're asking for compensation for lactose intolerant children, along with adults who've learned that they're LI in the past three years. The other part of the suit – and the obvious real goal, as the compensation issue stands no chance – is a court order mandating that warning labels about lactose intolerance be placed on milk sold in the city.

For more publicity they've plastered the Metro rail and subway system with spoof ads of the Got Milk? campaign. The Got Lactose Intolerance? ads picture a multi-ethnic group of sufferers knocking on the door of an in-use bathroom, needing desperately to get in. And let's face it, which of us with LI hasn't been there?

One problem is that there's a big difference between choosing to avoid or limit the use of dairy products and suing the dairy industry because milk is inherently evil. Another problem is trying to take sides with two groups which are both pushing agendas using misleading data and false claims.

A report on activistcash.com (and similar to others easily found on the web) has a variety of highly unflattering comments on PCRM:

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. PCRM is a fanatical animal rights group that seeks to remove eggs, milk, meat, and seafood from the American diet, and to eliminate the use of animals in scientific research. Despite its operational and financial ties to other animal activist groups and its close relationship with violent zealots, PCRM has successfully duped the media and much of the general public into believing that its pronouncements about the superiority of vegetarian-only diets represent the opinion of the medical community.
“Less than 5 percent of PCRM’s members are physicians,” Newsweek wrote in February 2004.
…

The American Medical Association (AMA), which actually represents the medical profession, has called PCRM a “fringe organization” that uses “unethical tactics” and is “interested in perverting medical science.”

Unfortunately, while their tactics parallel those of PETA's, they are not always wrong, especially when the milk industry hands them a club to beat itself over the head with.

Based on studies conducted by Michael Zemel of the University of Tennessee, the milk industry and big-name food companies started trumpeting in ads and press releases the notion that drinking milk can help people to lose weight. The PCRM is filing a suit against Kraft Foods Inc., General Mills Inc., the Dannon Co. Inc. and three dairy industry trade groups – including the National Dairy Council, which funded Zemel's work.

The PCRM has disputed this dairy weight-loss notion here:

Two recent studies, one at the University of Vermont and the other at Purdue University, found no significant difference in weight loss between people consuming a high-dairy diet and those consuming a low-dairy diet. In the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, a study of dairy consumption among 12,000 children concluded that the more milk children drank, the more weight they gained. The study’s lead author called the dairy industry’s claims “misleading.”

And here:

“The overwhelming weight of scientific evidence confirms that dairy products either cause weight gain or, at best, have no effect on weight whatsoever,” said Amy Lanou, Ph.D., PCRM senior nutrition scientist. “Since 1989 there have been 35 clinical trials that have explored the relationship between dairy products and/or calcium supplements and body weight. Thirty-one found no relation; two indicated that milk and other dairy products actually contributed to weight gain. Only the two studies led by Zemel have found that dairy contributes to both weight and fat loss when individuals are also restricting calories to lose weight,” said Lanou.

The defendants plan to vigorously combat the suit, according to their press releases. Policy by press release. I love it.

However, my bottom line is that while studies are ongoing, the evidence that drinking milk leads to weight loss is thin indeed.

But. Let me make that stronger. BUT. There are many studies that do show that milk is good for you in many different ways. There are also studies that show that milk may be a contributor to a number of diseases or health problems.

Drinking milk is a decision, one best made by you in full knowledge of your own diet, nutrition, and health. If you want to avoid it, by all means do so. You do not need dairy products for a healthy lifestyle. But you can also have a perfectly healthy lifestyle with dairy products included. Beware of any group that tries to tell you something different.

Food Allergy Research Consortium Launched

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it will be funding a new Food Allergy Research Consortium. The consortium, led by Hugh Sampson, M.D., at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, will receive approximately $17 million over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an NIH division. In addition, a five-year NIAID grant totaling approximately $5 million to the Emmes Corporation, of Rockville, MD, will fund a statistical center to support the consortium.

NIAID’s Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation director Daniel Rotrosen, M.D. said, "The expertise of the Food Allergy Research Consortium provides a unique opportunity to investigate basic immunologic mechanisms associated with food allergy in animal models and humans, and, ultimately, to test novel therapies to treat food allergy.”

A potential peanut allergy therapy will be tested first.

The consortium’s second project is an observational study that will enroll 400 infants who have allergies to milk or eggs. Such children are at higher risk of developing peanut allergy, but the vast majority will lose their allergies to those foods as they grow up. The study will follow the children for at least five years and study immunologic changes that accompany the loss of allergy to foods and the development of allergy to new foods. This study will be led by Scott Sicherer, M.D., at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

The clinical and observational studies will take place at five clinical sites:

• Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York; Principal Investigator: Hugh Sampson, M.D.
  
• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore; Principal Investigator: Robert Wood, M.D.
  
• Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC; Principal Investigator: Wesley Burks, M.D.
  
• University of Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock; Principal Investigator: Stacie Jones, M.D.
  
• National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver; Principal Investigator: Donald Leung, M.D., Ph.D.

For information about participating in the Food Allergy Research Consortium’s clinical and observational studies, please call the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Pediatric Allergy Division, at (212) 241-5548.

All information and quotes taken from the press release on the NIH site (www.nih.gov).

Wheat and Dairy Free Online UK Supermarket

The UK is home to a new website aimed at those with lactose intolerance, milk allergies, and other food allergies and intolerances, The Wheat and Dairy Free Supermarket.

Their homepage states that "We’ve brought together nearly 400 wheat, dairy, gluten, yeast, sugar and caffeine free products, including fresh bread daily, so you’ll be spoilt for choice." However, "Products on this site may contain nuts or traces of nuts." Deliveries are made within 48 hours throughout the UK for a flat fee of £6.50.

I'm not happy with some of the statements on their Why Dairy Free? page, which I think are misleading or outright wrong. Fortunately, food doesn't care why you're eating it.

Lactagen - Questions, No Answers

I get more questions about Lactagen than any other single topic these days. Somebody is doing a remarkable job of marketing and promotion.

Lactagen claims to be a cure for lactose intolerance. That's right: a cure. Take the product for 38 days and you'll never be bothered by lactose again. [UPDATE: Lactagen no longer uses the word “cure” in its marketing. Its website information has also changed since this was originally posted.]

Lactagen's™ one-time 38-day patent-pending formula allows the gradual and painless re-introduction of dairy into the digestive system. The program painlessly trains the body to be able to digest dairy products without the usual painful reactions. The combination of taking yogurt with live cultures, having meals with the formula, taking specific dosages and with the combination of Lactose, Tricalcium Phosphate, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, FOS and Cellulose Gum and Silica, the body learns how to digest dairy products.

On the surface, Lactagen doesn't appear to be very different from other acidophilus products aimed at those with LI, such as DairyCare (my website page / DairyCare homepage) or Digestive Advantage (my website page/ Digestive Advantage homepage). What hits my eyeballs with fireworks is the claim of a permanent cure.

How can this possibly work? Here's my speculation.

There are two sources in the body for the symptoms of lactose intolerance. Undigested lactose pulls water into the intestines, creating possible diarrhea. And that undigested lactose can be fermented in the colon by the bacteria that naturally live there, producing the gases that can cause bloating, cramps, and flatulence.

But other types of bacteria actually digest the lactose. These types include Lactobacillus acidophilus as well as the bacterial cultures that are used in yogurt. If you have yogurt regularly you can push out the "bad" bacteria and colonize the "good" bacteria in their place. Result: greatly diminished symptoms if you eat or drink any lactose.

Lactagen seems to use the same effect. Here's how the site describes the regimen:

Step 1: Starting Lactagen™
Starting the program is simple. Most importantly the program is specifically set-up to minimize any lactose intolerant symptoms which might occur. Dissolve the Lactagen™ patent-pending proprietary blend in 4 to 6 ounces of water and drink it with your meals. After the proprietary blend is dissolved, the product turns clear and tastes a little sweet. Consume yogurt (with "live cultures") during the first three days to supplement the blend. We recommend not eating any dairy products during the six weeks unless specifically stated in the protocol.

Step 2: The Lactagen™ Program
Lactagen™ is taken with dinner for 18 days, and then with breakfast and dinner for another 16 days. On the final 4 days, milk and then other dairy products are re-introduced into the diet. The complete Lactagen™ process takes 38 days. A full transition to dairy products begins on day 39. Individuals are then free to eat whatever dairy they desire - symptom free!

Step 3: Follow up to the Lactagen™ Process
After completing all 38 days, start slowly re-introducing dairy products into your diet. There will be no need for lactase supplement pills or further use of Lactagen™. For the next six to eight weeks, you should have a healthy serving of dairy on a weekly basis. It is important to continue having dairy periodically to maintain tolerance.

There's no reason this shouldn't work. My big question, though, is very simple: wouldn't this work exactly as well just by eating yogurt and skipping the Lactagen?

This is a very big question, because - as you might expect of a product that claims you only need to take it once and be cured forever - it costs a lot of money. $149.95, to be exact, as of March 2009. Not including possible tax and shipping.

For a true cure, of course, this is a trifling amount. A few bottles of lactase will run you this much in not too long a time.

If you want to order, you can call 1- 888-DAIRY-OK (888-324-7965) or order through the link on their home page.

For more info, email them at questions@lactagen.com.

And if you do go through the whole 38-day program, please let me know all the details by emailing me at stevecarper@cs.com.

Food Sensitivities Translation Cards

Traveling is always a problem for those with lactose intolerance or other food issues, and traveling in countries where you don't speak the language is even worse.

Here are two websites that provide cards pre-printed with translations of the questions you want to ask and the products you want to avoid.

• SelectWisely provides a number of different cards, including Lactose Intolerance, Food Allergy , Vegetarian, AND Gluten-Free.
  
  On the Lactose Intolerance card page, you can get a translation from any of more than a dozen languages to any two of those languages. The card translates two statements:

  I am allergic to milk and all milk products (milk, butter, cheese).
  
  Does this food contain milk or milk products (milk, butter, cheese)?

  
  
  The price is $8.95 for two identical laminated cards.
  
  
  
• A British web firm, Dietarycard.com , will create custom cards for people with lactose intolerance, milk allergies, celiac disease, or just about any combinations of foods you are sensitive to.
  
  The cards come standard with the following printed on them:
  

  I have an allergy/intolerance to:
  
  And all the derivatives.
  
  Eating foods, sauces, or garnishes containing these ingredients will make me ill.
  
  Can you assist me in making my choices from your menu?

  
  
  
  Anywhere from 1 to 8 risk foods can be included on the cards, available in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
  
  The Classic Coeliac cards contain slightly different information.
  
  Custom Cards cost £7 each or £25 including free delivery for their Europack presenting all five languages in a handy wallet.
  

Is There Lactose in Wine?

I don't get too many questions these days that stump me, but one asking whether lactose was used as a fining agent in wine made me blink.

Fining agent? What's that?

Some Googling told me that fining agents are substances added to wine to bond to particles that can affect a wine's color, flavor, and stability. The particles and fining agent sink to the bottom of the container and can be easily removed from the wine.

A million different fining agents are used by various people and for various reasons. However, lactose doesn't seem to be one of them.

That's the good news.

Some people do use the milk protein casein as a fining agent, however. Technically, since casein doesn't dissolve well in water, they used it in the form of potassium or sodium caseinate. But as I explain in my The Experts Speak page, neither caseinate contains lactose.

And not even those with milk allergies should worry. The European Union has recently declared that the use of casein as a fining agent presents such a low risk that it need not be mentioned even under their new, stricter allergen labeling laws. Whey used in distillates for spirits does not need to be mentioned either. The bureaucratic details are available in this pdf.

Vegans do consider this an animal-based item, however. There are vegan wines guaranteed not to use animal-derived products available and are easily found online.

Lactaid Changes Ultra to New Fast Act

When I went to the supermarket the other day, I was surprised to find Lactaid Fast Act replacing the Ultra tabs I had been using. (Ultra strength Lactaid had 9000 FCC units of lactase, triple the strength of their regular pills. So do these new pills.)

What is Fast Act? Accoring to the Lactaid site, Fast Act "starts working twice as fast as other Ultra strength supplements" and "it dissolves faster, so it goes to work sooner and breaks down more lactose than any Ultra strength product available."

How? They don't say, of course. Not even their press release has any info. The technology is "revolutionary," though.

The tablets look exactly the same as the old Ultras, and are also available in chewable form.

Lactaid really wants you to try them. They have an offer for a free sample as well as one for a dollar-off coupon.

I never go anyplace without lactase tablets in my pill case. If you suffer from lactose intolerance, you should always have them close at hand as well. The name on the brand doesn't matter much. You can choose by price, or type of pill, or strength. If one brand doesn't work, try another. But lactase pills, any lactase pills, make a huge difference.

Welcome to Planet Lactose

Steve Carper here. My Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse is the biggest LI site on the web. Too big, in fact. Just updating a section now takes months of work and effort.

Even with the Hot News sections, there was no good way to comment on all the little things that people want to know, the multiple of minor changes taking place in products, questions that need updated answers, rules and regulations that may concern those who try to avoid lactose, and the whole wide world of miscellaneous items that I want to comment on.

What you get with Planet Lactose is newer and faster news on all things lactose. Even better, blogs provide an outlet for comments so everyone can see your feedback.

Never fear. The Clearinghouse is still a going concern. You'll be able to switch over there with a click of the mouse.

Have fun here. I know I will.

Steve Carper