Yogurt and dietary recommendations for lactose intolerance

Abstract

Malabsorption to lactose is caused by the inability to digest sugar due to the decrease in the activity of intestinal lactase. Malabsorption may be due to a primary or secondary disorder. Adult type primary hypolactasia is an autosomal recessive disorder, characterized by the progressive loss of lactase after weaning. The secondary hypolactasia is a transitory disorder, which will be corrected after the cure of the basic pathology. For lactose malabsorption diagnosis, the hydrogen and methane exhaled tests after lactose overload stand out and, in the case of the primary adult type, the molecular test of the simple nucleotide polymorphism (SNP C / T-13910). However, the diagnosis of lactose intolerance requires the presence of symptoms after consumption. The treatment of primary adult-type hypolactasia consists in decreasing the lactose in the diet below the trigger dose. A significant percentage of individuals with malabsorption tolerate habitual amounts of consumption. Practically 99% of them tolerate yogurt or fermented dairy products, thus allowing to cover the daily recommendations of calcium and vitamin D intake. In addition, nutritional strategies that reduce the lactose load, gastric emptying time and / or intestinal transit time or increase lactic activity and colonic compensation, will allow a greater tolerance.