A household member has had lactose intolerance diagnosed a few years ago; we have found that just a small amount of lactose has dramatic effects, that what happens in practice doesn’t always follow what should happen in theory and that lactose is everywhere.
When cheese is made, the solid cheese is separated from the watery whey which contains the lactose; so theoretically, cheese should be OK. Decent amounts of cheddar, goat’s cheese and camembert are OK for us, but raclette cheese isn’t. It should be that the harder cheeses are better, but raclette is relatively hard and camembert isn’t!
We use the lactose free milk from Candi a, Just Milk (one can often get a voucher for this off the internet to get it free in Sainsburys, and our friends can too). And this seems OK.
But if we make a quiche from cheddar, Just Milk Lactose free, and ham, one portion is OK, but a second portion causes symptoms.
As above with yoghurts, the yoghurt making should digest the lactose; hard Greek style yoghurts are OK; branded yoghurts seem OK if more expensive presumabley cos they have spent more time on the yoghurt making and digested the lactose. With supermarket own brand yoghurts, some seem OK and some aren’t.
The whey from cheese making is rich in lactose and used as a sugar in many other foods eg hot dog sausages, ham and other charcuterie such as salami, chorizo, saucisson etc. So, 2 hot dogs are too much but 1 ½ are OK. Ham with lactose seems OK.
But mixing several OK foods often leads to a problem eg yoghurt plus 1 ½ hot dog sausages would not be tolerated.
We use the “Super lactase” capsules from Holland and Barrett which are fairly expensive, but seem to help; 2-3 times per year Holland and Barrett have them on special offer so we buy two bottles.
If going out for a meal, we take a lactase capsule just in case, because one doesn’t know how much lactose is hidden in the food, and because public toilets are very few and often not pleasant.
We have discovered that vegan food can be useful; Falafels were causing problems, but it was the sauce, which is now OK with the Vegan Tahini sauce.
I read that if one takes increasing doses of lactose, one gets used to it, but there was no data to back this up, and I don’t believe it. But we only use the Lactase capsules when we think that we will need them, mainly cos of cost.
Cats and hedgehogs are also lactase deficient, and one can buy specially expensive milk for cats, but the lactose free Just Milk should be just as good, it is UHT so keeps well and is cheaper.
We tried soya milk and it was horrible.
At the end of the day, I think that a food diary to see what is safe and what isn’t (including the amount eaten) is the main way forward; reading the ingredients on the packet is helpful, but so many foods contain lactose that we just avoid the foods with lots of lactose ingredients. It is annoying that lactose appears in so many foods, but more and more foods are appearing lactose free, and vegan food should be OK.
Best wishes
