About Lactose Intolerance

I'm allergic to dairy.

You've probably heard someone say that before right?

But what exactly do they mean?

There are two "allergies".

1) allergic to the milk protien

2) Lactose intolerant - I'm going to go more in depth into this one.

So being lactose intolerant isn't actually an allergy.

Let's first do a little background.

The sugar in milk is called lactose.

In order to digest lactose you need to be producing an enzyme called lactase.

Most mammals stop producing lactase while they are young, thus becoming lactose intolerant. But, typically *sigh*, humans have to be different.

A large proportion of humans have developed lactase persistence. This is where the body continues to develop lactase, instead of stopping, although adults do have lower rates of lactase production than younger people.

Interestingly, people from African and Asian areas have much lower rates of lactase production. When you think about it, European people, back in the day, continued to eat a lot of dishes that used milk, and other products that included milk. Where as people from Africa/Asia weren't particularly likely to do so.

Another interesting point, human milk is quite high in lactose compared to other milks.

So I guess what I'm trying to get at is you aren't allergic to lactose, it's an enzyme deficiency (lactase deficient). I could theorise that us lactose intolerants are more normal, and more following the natural order like than everyone else.

To aid in digesting lactose, you can eat those slightly pricier yogurts (you know the ones: Acidophilus!, Cultured Yogurt!, Bacteria!, Lactillobactus!). The bacteria in the yogurt (unless you leave it sitting on your bench or in your bag all day, in which case it will be teeming with bad bacteria that will make you sicker) contains lactase or aids production of lactase, so some lactose intolerants can have these yogurts because the bacteria in it helps digest the lactose in the yogurt.

Am I making sense? i get the feeling I'm going in cirlces. I'm sure you get what I mean.

So anyway, I'm onto tub 2/4 of my gut repair vomit enducing powder, then I can start the desensitisation.

About my allergies

So it was only a few weeks ago that I found out I'm allergic to all this stuff. Good thing I didn't accept the two or three bakery/patisserie jobs I was offered!!!

Dairy

I'm lactose intolerant. There are two types of dairy allergies. 1) allergic to lactose (the sugar in cows milk) and 2) allergy to the protien found in cows milk.

I'm highly allergic to lactose (my naturopath describes it as 3 plus signs out of 5, 5 being the most extreme), but it isn't going to kill me.

I can still have butter as is is very very low in lactose, so a lot of my recipes will still use butter, but I can imagine you can substitute it with margarine or some form of shortening. Most lactose intolerant people will know of a butter substitute they can use if they can't have butter.

I can also still have yogurt that is high in acidophilus. This yogurt contains lactobacillus which makes the enzyme lactase, which breaks down lactose. Lots of L words!

Soy

I'm allergic to soy. Easy enough you say, not so! Soy is in so many things now days. In nearly all breads there is soy (as well as milk solids), or soy flour. I've found a couple of breads that I can have, I tend to keep them in the freezer and defrost pieces as I need them because I don't eat a lot of bread. I can also have bagels, yay! But still soy is in so many things, it is an emulsifier in chewing gum, in 95% of chocolate (in the form of soy lechtin, an emulsifier), and ugh, so many other things. I mean even the mayo and tartare sauce at my work contain milk and soy. Something I still need to do is figure out which numbers indicate the inclusion of soy. Any tips?

Fermented soy products such as miso, tamari and soy sauce are okay as the fermentation kills the whatever it is in the soy that causes the allergic reaction. Tofu is usually okay, and soy oil is fine.

Additive 220

Additive 220 is a preservative, it's in the family of sulfites so watch out for that word. I've found it in the muesli that my family eats. It can be found in dried fruit and veggies, dessicated coconut, cookies, cakes, pastries, pasta, juices, cordials, and syrups, tomato paste, mayo, sausages, cheeses, wine, and the list goes on.

Aparently I've had these allergies all my life, but I've only just found out about them. I have tried dairy-free diets in the past, but replaced dairy milk with soy milk, so surprise surprise there was no difference. These allergies aren't outright killing me, but they do make life unpleasant. I get eczema from it, have had all my life, when I was younger I would get colds, glue ear, ear and nose infections a lot, and in the past few years I've developed bad sinus problems, to the point where I've been struggling with a sinus infection since December.

So to damnation with lactose and soy and additives! I can be happy without you!! Ha!