Can You Travel Away From Your LI Symptoms?

Over the years I received a surprising number of emails like this one I received recently:

Something very interesting happened when I visited Italy last October. I was very cautious about eating their foods, especially all the cheese--which I love. One day I ate some over there---guess what--no problem. I ate more---no problem. I was elated! I got back to the States---ate some cheese---big problems!

Milk is milk all over the world so the symptoms of lactose intolerance should stay the same no matter where you go or what your eat. Most of the time I couldn't even hazard a guess why travel should make any difference at all.

But while milk is milk, cheese isn't always cheese. By that I mean that the more you age cheese the lower its lactose content. And the more you adulterate cheese - making it into cheese product of some sort - the more cheap stuff, like lactose (usually in the form of whey), manufacturers add to give artificial cheese a more milk-like taste. I hate to tell you, but not all that cheese you find on pizza is real cheese.

Now it's true that the Italians use some less aged, or mild, cheeses. But I imagine it's possible that a tourist might find herself in places that use better and more aged cheese.

As I say, it's just a guess. But it's the only answer I could come up with.

I'd like to hear your experiences while traveling. What happened when you ate cheese in Italy? Or anywhere else?