Dairy products are an indispensable part of daily life for each of us. Strangely, we often hear that someone will have abdominal pain and diarrhea after drinking pure milk, and this reaction is definitely not caused by food spoilage.
There is such a disease called lactose intolerance. People who are lactose intolerant cannot effectively digest lactose, and lactose is precisely an important ingredient contained in most dairy products. If the adverse symptoms after drinking milk are bloating, colic, and diarrhea after drinking a certain amount of safe and healthy milk, then the so-called allergy may be the lactose intolerance discussed here. For most adults, among the foods we come into contact with daily, the most frequent dairy products with high lactose content are milk. So many people with lactose intolerance will show the above symptoms to a certain extent. Some studies have pointed out that the incidence of lactase deficiency in Chinese Han people is 75% to 95%, and that of ethnic minorities is 76% to 95.5%.
If lactose is not absorbed, it will be discharged into the intestine and fermented by intestinal microorganisms to produce acid and gas, resulting in gastrointestinal dysfunction and causing the loss of valuable proteins and minerals, such as the loss of iron, zinc, calcium which is related to rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults. The investigation results of the experts show that patients with lactase deficiency have a poorer bone structure than normal people. More seriously, if the body lacks lactase, lactose will not be hydrolyzed into monosaccharides for human absorption. And galactose can promote the synthesis of brain glycosides and mucopolysaccharides, thereby playing a role in promoting the intellectual development of children.
Lactose malabsorption is not only accompanied by signs of lactose intolerance, but also accompanied by a loss of appetite, resulting in a reduced diet, diarrhea, and also the loss of a certain amount of digested food. These digested foods could have been absorbed but not absorbed (including valuable proteins, microbes, minerals and some sugars in milk), making the utilization of milk extremely low and wasting this precious dietary resource.
With the development of modern biological science and technology, people use lactase to directionally hydrolyze a large amount of lactose in cow milk, thereby making it possible to fundamentally solve the medical problem of lactose intolerance that has trapped the world for many years. Lactase, also known as β-galactosidase, can hydrolyze lactose into glucose and galactose, which reduces the lactose content in milk to below 0.01% and achieves 99% lactose removal. Lactose-free milk is no different from ordinary milk in taste and nutrient composition. The hydrolyzed cow’s milk can be made into lactose-free milk powder, lactose-free yogurt, cheese, ice cream and other milk-containing nutritional foods, so that lactose intolerant people can also eat milk and other foods in a safe, healthy and safe manner.