Simple Test To See If You Have Lactose Intolerance
Many people suffer from lactose intolerance symptoms. Sometimes it is easy to catch and diagnose, yet other times it is more difficult. How do you know for sure if you are lactose intolerant?
Symptoms can be different for each person.
Each symptom of lactose intolerance is a form of discomfort in the digestive system. Symptoms may be severe or mild depending on each individual case of intolerance.
Basically when someone has lactose intolerance, their body lacks an enzyme called lactase. The body produces lactase in the small intestine. This enzyme is what the body then uses in digesting lactose. The trouble is when the small intestines do not generate enough of the enzyme to handle lactose when it is ingested.
The most common symptoms of having lactose intolerance are loose stools, abdominal cramps, bloating and excessive gas.
Flatulence increases after consuming products containing milk. Some people will experience only a little nausea; while others will begin to throw up. These are all caused because the body cannot break down lactose. Usually lactose intolerance symptoms will begin somewhere around 30 minutes after consuming a dairy product. It can be as long as 2 hours before the onset of symptoms.
Lactose is a natural sugar which is common to milk, or dairy, products.
It occurs in milk, cheese, and butter. Lactose is also found in product made using milk such as, yogurt, ice cream or cottage cheese.
Some people who have lactose intolerance symptoms can consume a small amount of milk products and show no symptoms. Others experience symptoms by only consuming a small amount of a product containing lactose.
A doctor can diagnose lactose intolerance by asking a lot of questions about what kind of symptoms you are having and how frequently they occur. They may also ask you to remove all dairy products from your diet for a little while to see if the symptoms subside. Other tests the doctor may perform is a hydrogen breath test or a blood sugar test. These can both confirm lactose intolerance.
A simple way for you to test to see if you are experiencing lactose intolerance symptoms is to totally remove all dairy products from your diet.
If symptoms stop when these items are taken away you may very well be lactose intolerant. Do not consume any milk or dairy products for at least two weeks. Then add only one item back into your diet, such as milk. If the symptoms return you most likely suffer from lactose intolerance.
To understand the Lactose Intolerance let us first know what Lactose is. Lactose basically is a carbohydrate, in simpler words it’s a sugar. To be more specific it is a milk sugar usually present in milk foods like curd, cheese, buttermilk, ice cream etc and other dairy foods. Lactose Intolerance as the name itself says is a state of an individual where he or she cannot route the lactose in a normal way.
Lactose consumption in the form of daily foods by a lactose intolerant person may lead to lactose intolerance symptoms.
The reason for developing the symptoms is simply because of the non process of the lactose. The most common symptoms which anyone can face are stomach contraction with severe pain, flatulence and diarrhea. The amount of unpleasantness the effected individual goes through depends on the quantity of dairy foods taken and on the process capacity of the body.
The mechanism inside the body which leads to Lactose Intolerance Symptoms is quite simple. Lactose is milk sugar found in milk foods, Lactase is an enzyme present inside the body at the linings of the small intestine helps in digesting the Lactose and processing it. When lactose is not broken down by lactase it simply ferments inside the body increasing the level of hydrogen, methane and water. These excess quantities cause the Lactose Intolerance Symptoms as the excess quantities of the chemicals produced cause flatulence, stomach contraction with pain, and lastly diarrhea
The main causes which lead to the lactose intolerance symptoms can be classified into 3 categories:
- Congenital causes
- Secondary causes
- Developmental causes
Congenital disorder or anomaly happens because of the alteration of the gene which makes lactase enzyme inside the body. The individuals of congenital disorder actually have this problem from birth.
Secondary causes show up because of the deficiency of the lactase enzyme inside the walls of small intestine. This lack of lactase may be because of many reasons; one of the common reasons is damage of the wall by any illness.
The last and the most important cause show up due to the downfall of the lactase count inside the body.
This developmental cause is also called as hypolactasia which means less lactase. Due to this cause the lactase count decreases inside the body due to the changes in the functioning of the genetic material of the individual. The occurrence of this cause varies from person to person, community to community and also ethnicity to ethnicity.