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Lactose Intolerance

Disclaimer: Not medical or professional advice. Always seek the advice of your physician.

6 Signs That You Shouldn't Drink Milk

Lactose is a sugar found in milk. It is digested by an enzyme called lactase. Suppose there is not enough lactase in the body. In that case, milk cannot be well digested. You will suffer from stomach, intestinal, and skin problems without even realizing it. Unlike food allergies, which always appear brightly, intolerance to a particular product can give a blurry image and disguise itself as other diseases. How to understand that you are lactose intolerant and should not drink (or drink less) milk? Dr. Dang recommends looking for the following signsю

Bloating

Have you just eaten and seen that you need to ease off the belt or unbutton your jeans? Maybe it happens not because you have eaten a large portion of food, but because you have drunk something dairy. This version is supported by the speed at which symptoms appear. Lactose intolerance causes bloating, which lasts from half an hour to two hours after a meal. Do not forget that similar symptoms can be caused by intolerance to other products, such as gluten or not eating correctly (too fast or swallowing air).

Abdominal Pain

When lactose isn't fully absorbed, bacteria take care of it in the intestines. This causes increased gas and cramping.

Heartburn

During small research in 2012 published in The Journal of Paediatrics, it was found that children who stopped drinking cow's milk were less susceptible to reflux (reverse reflux of hydrochloric acid from the stomach into the esophagus). If you like milk with high-fat content, pay attention to the following: fat causes relaxation of the sphincter muscle in the intestines, allowing access of acid to it and resulting in heartburn.

Diarrhea

The causes of this are the same as bloating and pain, but the situation is more complex. The more lactose you intake, the worse the situation is, usually. When you drink a little bit of milk – you experience gasses. When you drink too much milk – you suffer from diarrhea. If your stomach responds even to the smallest amount of dairy products, there is an extreme lack of lactase in the body. Have you got a reverse effect? The research published in the Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics has found that faulty digestion of lactose disturbs bowel motility and causes constipation.

Nausea

This symptom is frequent in dairy intolerance, but there is no explanation for this. Some experts think that nausea may occur due to an overgrowth of bacteria in the intestines trying to digest the lactose that has entered it. This suggestion is confirmed by the study in 2015, which was published in the Nutrients journal. Its authors found a link between bacterial population growth and lactose intolerance in patients with irritated intestines syndrome. They also suggested that this growth is a reason for the unpleasant symptoms of the gastrointestinal tract.

Eczema and Allergy Symptoms

If you suffer from skin itching, a blocked or runny nose, and you cannot understand this reaction, think: maybe you are lactose intolerant? No scientific research has found a link between lactose intolerance and allergy. A review in the Postgraduate Medical Journal states that many patients reporting eczema, rhinitis, or sinusitis during the study are lactose intolerant. Maybe this is your reason to remove milk from your diet.

Learn More About Allergy

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