What is the difference between dairy allergies and lactose intolerant

High cholesterol has few or no symptoms. But having it can raise your risk for heart disease and stroke. Learn these five tips to keep your cholesterol level in check. Does your skin or appearance need a little sprucing up? Do you want to be friends with your mirror again? You may feel just fine now, but that could change any day. Lactose Intolerance Versus Dairy Allergy. Danvers Family Doctors, P. Even more worrying is that the toxins produced by bacteria may play a key role in diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and some cancers.

However, all mammals and the vast majority of people stop producing it soon after weaning — for us, around the age of two. In Northern Central Europe, lactose intolerance affects between two and 20 percent of people, rising to 40 percent in Mediterranean countries — most common in Italy where it affects percent in some regions.

Highest rates are seen in Africa, where it affects percent of people, and Asia, where more than 90 percent of people are lactose intolerant. It provided a selective advantage to populations using dairy products, enabling them to live long enough to have children.

The average life expectancy was probably little more than 25 years, but this meant the ability to digest lactose could be passed on to subsequent generations. The treatment for lactose intolerance is straightforward: avoid lactose. Lactose is also used as a filler in many types of medication and while this may not trigger symptoms in most people with lactose intolerance, it can cause problems in some.

Check with your doctor and request lactose-free tablets. Common triggers include latex, detergent, dust, pollen or certain proteins in food. General symptoms include inflammation, sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, and so on, giving rise to the classic allergies — asthma, eczema, hay fever, and urticaria skin rash or hives. Symptoms include an itchy rash or swelling, stomach ache, vomiting, colic, diarrhea or constipation, and a runny nose.

This makes it difficult to diagnose. I like supporting small farmers, I love knowing that animals are well treated and well fed, and that what they are producing is organic. The Organic Valley products that I have in my fridge at any given time are lactose-free milk, as well as slicing cheese, butter, cheese snack sticks, shredded cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, and cream cheese.

No joke, I love my organic dairy. Culturing and fermenting cheese and other dairy products breaks down lactose into other compounds, allowing my stomach to digest it with fewer or no issues.

However, an allergy is an entirely different diagnosis. If I were allergic to dairy , even the tiniest speck of dairy could trigger my body to launch a full-scale immune response like anaphylaxis and require emergency medications and a trip to the hospital.

I thought being lactose-intolerant meant you get hives when you eat cheese? Luckily, I outgrew that dairy allergy fairly typical but not always the case for children with food allergies , and I happily consumed milk and dairy products for years without any allergy issues.

For lactose intolerance, talk to your doctor about taking a dietary supplement that contains lactase. Be wary of many medicines that contain lactose, which is used as a filler, especially in white tablets.

Soy, nut, rice and veggie-based milks are popular alternatives. Dairy-free brands like So Delicious, Enjoy Life, Almond Breeze and Ripple have perfected recipes that taste just as great as the real thing, if not better. Want to learn more, get tested or speak to a digestive health professional about your symptoms? Contact us and request a same-day appointment!

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Request an Appointment Pay Online Now Published: June 18, Allergies Milk allergies usually show up early in life but can develop at any age. Treatment Unfortunately, avoidance of milk or items containing milk products is the only way to manage an allergy.