Overview
Lactose, the sugar in milk, cannot be properly absorbed by those who have lactose intolerance. They have diarrhea, gas, and bloating as a consequence of consuming dairy products. Although the illness, which is also known as lactose malabsorption, is often not harmful, some people may have unpleasant symptoms.
Lactase deficiency is often caused by insufficient amounts of the enzyme lactase, which is generated in the small intestine. You can digest milk products even if your lactase levels are low. However, if your levels are too low, you develop lactose intolerance and experience symptoms after consuming dairy products.
The small intestine and colon
The digestive system, which breaks down the food you ingest, is made up of the small intestine and colon. Dietary nutrients are absorbed by the intestines. What the intestines are unable to absorb travels farther down the digestive system and is discharged as a stool when you urinate.
Most sufferers of lactose intolerance are able to control their disease without giving up all dairy products.
Symptoms
After consuming or drinking lactose-containing foods or beverages, the signs and symptoms of lactose intolerance often start between 30 minutes and two hours later. Typical warning signs and symptoms include:
- Diarrhea
- nausea and sometimes vomiting
- stomach pain
- Bloating
- Gas
- Causes
When your small intestine doesn’t generate enough lactase, an enzyme needed to break down lactose, you develop lactose intolerance.
Normally, lactase breaks down milk sugar into glucose and galactose, two simple sugars that are taken into the circulation through the gut mucosa.
If you lack the enzyme lactase, lactose from your diet travels into your colon rather than being broken down and absorbed. The signs and symptoms of lactose intolerance are brought on by an interaction between regular bacteria and undigested lactose in the gut.
Lactase deficiency comes in three different varieties. The lactase deficit underlying each kind is brought on by various sources.
Primary intolerance to lactose
The most typical kind of primary lactose intolerance is present from birth in all affected individuals. Lactase is required by infants, who get all of their nutrients from milk.
The quantity of lactase that children generate often decreases when they switch from milk to other foods, but it typically stays high enough to digest the amount of dairy in a typical adult diet. Primary dairy intolerance is characterized by a significant decline in lactase synthesis by maturity, which makes milk products challenging to digest.
Lactose intolerance that develops later
This kind of milk intolerance happens when your small intestine reduces lactase synthesis as a result of an infection, an accident, or small intestine surgery. Diseases include intestinal infection, celiac disease, bacterial overgrowth, and Crohn’s disease are linked to secondary lactose intolerance.
Though it may take some time, treating the underlying disease may help to reduce signs and symptoms and restore lactase levels.
Developmental or innate lactose intolerance
Babies with lactose intolerance brought on by a deficiency of lactase are unusual, but not impossible. Because this condition is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner from one generation to the next, both the mother and the father must pass on the same gene mutation for a kid to be afflicted. Due to low levels of lactase, premature newborns might potentially develop milk intolerance.
Risk elements
You or your kid may be more susceptible to lactase deficiency due to the following factors:
Advancing years. Adulthood is when milk intolerance often manifests. When it comes to infants and young children, the condition is rare.
Ethnicity. The majority of persons with lactose intolerance are of African, Asian, Hispanic, and American Indian origin.
Birth before term. Because lactase-producing cells in the small intestine don’t grow until late in the third trimester, preterm infants may have lower amounts of lactase.
Ailments of the small intestine. Lactase deficiency may be brought on by bacterial overgrowth, celiac disease, and Crohn’s disease, among other small intestinal conditions.
Certain cancer therapies. Your chance of developing lactose intolerance rises if you’ve received radiation treatment for stomach cancer or intestinal side effects from chemotherapy.