Did you know 65% of the world is lactose intolerant?

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I don't care. I love cheese to much not to eat it. Though most cheese I eat is lactose free anyway because older cheese tends to loose its lactose. As long as I don't drink a glas of milk or similar amounts of milk products I am fine. No need for soy although I like to use oat milk for my porridge.
 
As a Finn who grew up on boatloads of milk and cheese and kept consuming dairy everyday until I was 26, I am so happy that I decided to quit it. I didn't do it for health reasons, but I feel a lot better these days and I get way fewer colds now than I used to. Dropped some weight, too. Anecdotal, I know. I probably uttered the phrase "I couldn't live without dairy" at some point, and that seems so silly now.

I'm not gonna go into the milk is for baby cows thing, but when you think about it cows most likely don't want to sacrifice their lives to service humanity. And considering humanity did just fine without milk for ages, it doesn't make sense to me to keep an entire species in painful servitude when we don't have to. Quitting dairy is better for our health, the planet and the cows, so I'd suggest people try three weeks without it. It's probably easier than you think. Switch to almond milk, soy yoghurt etc. and see how it goes.
 
Did you know 65% of the world is lactose intolerant?
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Glad to be part of the 35%. Then again, most people in Belgium and The Netherlands are milk mutants.

As long as I can remember I've always drunk at least 1 litre of milk each day and up to now ( I'm 40 ) I never had any digestive problems whatsoever.
 
FullMetalx117 said:
Lactase persistence is apparently a fairly a new trait. About 25% of the United States population is lactose intolerant which is still a crazy high percentage in my opinion. On the other hand, 3 out 4 Indians are lactose intolerant.

How do these people survive?! Milk based products are such an integral part of my diet, I can't imagine life without it.
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I do believe that number. Do you mean people from india then certainly something is wrong with that number
 
Iksenpets said:
Lactose intolerance really only affects your ability to drink liquid milk. Other things like cheese and yogurt are fine. So yeah, they just don't drink it.
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This isn't true.

Soft cheese of any kind from cows milk, yoghurt that isn't greek process, ice cream all anihilate your stomach if you have Lactose intolerance. Also sherbert, since it's pure lactose.

Source, my fiance has it bad. Symptoms range from cramping, to the shits, to projectile vomiting, fun times.
 
Part of the 35% here. I view people with lactose intolerance similarly to those with anaphylaxis: while I know they can't help it, it's not their conscious choice, I can't help but instinctively feel like they're at fault somehow. I try not to let it colour my opinion of them, though.

If I do develop lactose intolerance later in life I'll have to make the choice of whether to cope with the abdominal troubles, or just end it all.
 
OverBlood 3 said:
It's nothing to do with DNA :/ I was talking to a nurse who deals with allergy tests (I was in the middle of an airborne allergy test) and she was talking about C sections effecting allergies that people have and that it's only a ~fairly~ recent discovery. I was born by C section so I wouldn't be shocked if I had something wrong with me.
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please stop mixing things together ... lactose tolerance in adulthood is a DNA mutation that happened to one human some 10.000 years ago and that has been transferred genetically since then.
We are NOT talking about allergies here, lactose tolerance/intolerance has nothing to do with allergies, its all about if your body has the genes to produce the enzyme lactase after reaching adulthood.. basically everyone produces this enzyme as newborn(except some very unlucky few, as human milk contains more lactose than cows milk), its all about if the body is switching production of enzymes off or not when you reach X age.

The natural state is to be lactose intolerant, just like basically all other mamals.. that is also why you shouldn't give milk to any adult animals.
 
I love cheese so very much and don't care that humans "shouldn't" be consuming dairy. I'm the product of about 8000 years of artificial selection and the result is that I can enjoy Pecorino Moliterno al Tartufo, unpasteurized soft cheeses from France and local, artisan cheeses.
 
I grew up drinking milk all the time, but after going to college and only rarely drinking milk I seem to have lost most of my lactose tolerance. While I can still eat ice cream and cheese in normal quanitites, regular milk or anything with heavy cream just destroys me. I've been gradually moving toward reducing my carbon footprint by cutting beef and dairy out of my diet, which has been a lot easier once I realized I lost most of my tolerance.
 
Iksenpets said:
Lactose intolerance really only affects your ability to drink liquid milk. Other things like cheese and yogurt are fine. So yeah, they just don't drink it.
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Thats not true.
If you are lactose intolerant you can't process milk sugar.
And milk sugar isn't just in liquid milk.
 
Randam said:
Thats not true.
If you are lactose intolerant you can't process milk sugar.
And milk sugar isn't just in liquid milk.
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Intolerance means your body isn't producing the enzymes needed to break down the lactose at an early stage.

In cheese and yogurt the lactose has already been partly broken down during the process needed to make them, so you are more likely to be able to handle a modest amount of them without any noticeable ailments.
 
Randam said:
Thats not true.
If you are lactose intolerant you can't process milk sugar.
And milk sugar isn't just in liquid milk.
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It's in much lower quantities depending on the form of dairy product you eat. Yogurts, especially greek yogurts, have it in much lower concentrations and are therefore more tolerable. So you may see some gas/bloating but not to the extent of eating ice cream or drinking milk.
 
Humans are the only mamals that keep their lactose tolerance into adulthood (and even then it's only a fraction of us)?
 
I use to drink milk daily as a kid. Now I have to resort to almond milk and coconut ice cream. I can still eat a decent amount of cheese without problems though.
 
Engell said:
please stop mixing things together ... lactose tolerance in adulthood is a DNA mutation that happened to one human some 10.000 years ago and that has been transferred genetically since then.
We are NOT talking about allergies here, lactose tolerance/intolerance has nothing to do with allergies, its all about if your body has the genes to produce the enzyme lactase after reaching adulthood.. basically everyone produces this enzyme as newborn(except some very unlucky few, as human milk contains more lactose than cows milk), its all about if the body is switching production of enzymes off or not when you reach X age.

The natural state is to be lactose intolerant, just like basically all other mamals.. that is also why you shouldn't give milk to any adult animals.
Click to expand...

Yeah we're getting mixed up, I was talking specifically about C Sections and it's effects on people long into adult life. I wasn't saying lactose intolerance was an allergy, the fact I was having an allergy test was kinda irrelevant to the lactose thing, just the C Section thing I was talking about, it was the nurse that told me about it in the first place.

Apparently they can smear the baby with vaginal fluids after C section to help protect it in later life. Fun fact.
 
I drink like quarter to half a gallon of milk a day. It's the best. Don't really see or feel any issues as a result. So I'm guessing I'm one of the lucky ones.
 
I wasn't lactose intolerant when I was younger, but have become so in my late 20s and early 30s.

Fortunately, it's only when I'm drinking straight milk and not cheese or ice cream, but it still sucks that I can't eat a bowl of cereal without getting awful gas and/or diarrhea.
 
pswii60 said:
But eating the cow is natural?
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Being omnivores, eating meat is natural.

Consuming dairy, except for those with the mutation that allows them process milk after infancy, is unnatural in the since people are consuming a food that they are not able to process correctly.

Humans can eat grass. But we general don't because we are not well suited to process it. It is natural for us to avoid grass in our diets. It is unnatural for use to actively consume large quantities of grass outside of starvation.

Also, the lengths farmers have to manipulate cows into over producing milk for human consumption. It is unnatural food source because it would only be a sometimes food source in the wild. We made it everyday occurrence by manipulating cows birthing/reproduction cycle.

I'm guessing the hang up is on the possible negative connotation of the word unnatural.
 
I did know that because I heard some thing about most of Asia being lactose intolerant years ago, and I am happy that I am lactose tolerant because I drink/eat a ton of milk and cheese. I love cereal and my go-to drink with dinner at home is a glass of milk. Though I'm a weirdo and prefer Skim. I grew up on 1% milk and anything higher than 1% tastes/feels so thick and rich to me that it's like drinking butter (for me) which grosses me out.

As for butter, I accept that it's in almost everything that I eat, but I don't like adding butter to things, it's too rich for me.
 
Iksenpets said:
Lactose intolerance really only affects your ability to drink liquid milk. Other things like cheese and yogurt are fine. So yeah, they just don't drink it.
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My mother is lactose intolerant and she cant eat any milk products without the same reaction as when she drinks milk.
 
I kept getting told "oh, you'll grow out of it" when I was a kid so I kept trying to drink regular milk. And every time the same result, back on the toilet with major regret.

As an adult I can eat ice cream and cheese but still avoid a glass of milk. Kinda has me curious if I managed to grow out of it.
 
Lactaid pills. <$20 for 120 pills, one per dairy meal, problem solved.

source: am lactose intolerant and can't stop won't stop.
 
Chococat said:
Being omnivores, eating meat is natural.

Consuming dairy, except for those with the mutation that allows them process milk after infancy, is unnatural in the since people are consuming a food that they are not able to process correctly.

Humans can eat grass. But we general don't because we are not well suited to process it. It is natural for us to avoid grass in our diets. It is unnatural for use to actively consume large quantities of grass outside of starvation.

Also, the lengths farmers have to manipulate cows into over producing milk for human consumption. It is unnatural food source because it would only be a sometimes food source in the wild. We made it everyday occurrence by manipulating cows birthing/reproduction cycle.

I'm guessing the hang up is on the possible negative connotation of the word unnatural.
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Neither is hybridization of plants such as bananas or ruby red grapefruit.
"Natural" is a bullshit, arbitrary term.
Screen-Shot-2014-06-19-at-9.43.46-AM.png
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lazygecko said:
Intolerance means your body isn't producing the enzymes needed to break down the lactose at an early stage.

In cheese and yogurt the lactose has already been partly broken down during the process needed to make them, so you are more likely to be able to handle a modest amount of them without any noticeable ailments.
Click to expand...

singhr1 said:
It's in much lower quantities depending on the form of dairy product you eat. Yogurts, especially greek yogurts, have it in much lower concentrations and are therefore more tolerable. So you may see some gas/bloating but not to the extent of eating ice cream or drinking milk.
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All I'm saying is, you can get problems from other things too. (what you two confirmed)
Not just pure milk.
Guy I quoted said only milk can cause problems.
 
Yeah, I'm at least mildly intolerant. I can't drink milk at all, but most other things are fine... Provided I don't go overboard with it.

It's not a big loss to me, anyway, there are so many milk alternatives I can drink and/or cook with, it's not a big loss.
 
Arkeband said:
Lactaid pills. <$20 for 120 pills, one per dairy meal, problem solved.

source: am lactose intolerant and can't stop won't stop.
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or you can buy lactose free milk labeled as Lactaid

more and more lactose free options are now available than ever before in the dairy section,
 
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