An allergy to lactose (milk sugar) appears due to the fact that the patient's body, for one reason or another, is sensitive to this component of dairy products. Symptoms of this disease are experienced by both adults and infants. There is also lactose intolerance, which is associated with insufficient production of the enzyme responsible for the digestion of lactose in the gastrointestinal tract.
Therefore, it is necessary to find out whether the cause of your malaise is an allergy to milk , or an intolerance to milk sugar. In the latter case, you can safely consume healthy fermented milk products (ryazhenka, kefir, cottage cheese).
Causes of the disease
A number of factors can contribute to the onset of lactose allergy. These include both the initial predisposition of the body, and some diseases.
Most often, lactose intolerance occurs due to:
- Deficiency of the enzyme responsible for its absorption. Often this problem is faced by residents of Africa, Asia and South America.
- Age-related decline in the ability to digest milk. The older a person gets, the worse his gastrointestinal tract tolerates milk. Not all people lose this ability with age, but for some, its use becomes simply impossible.
- Intestinal diseases. Imbalance of the intestinal microflora, enzymatic and contractile activity of this organ can have a variety of negative consequences. One of them is milk sugar intolerance.
- Conducting an operation on the intestines.
Main symptoms
With an allergy to lactose, its unprocessed particles have a negative effect on the patient's gastrointestinal tract. This causes the appearance of symptoms resembling various manifestations of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Signs make themselves felt literally half an hour after eating food that contains milk sugar.
With this type of allergy, the following symptoms are observed: the following symptoms appear:
- Nausea and vomiting after eating food containing milk sugar;
- Excess gas formation;
- Bloating and frequent belching;
- Increase in general body temperature;
- stool disorders;
- Pain in the abdomen.
Symptoms in infants
Allergies in infants that occur with sensitivity to lactose may resemble symptoms of food poisoning. They begin to appear after half an hour or a little later, after eating food in which milk sugar is present. The baby begins to cry and reach out with his hands to his stomach, because he feels pain in this area. The baby has an excessive accumulation of gases in the intestines, which causes bloating and frequent belching.
If a baby has this type of allergic reaction, it means that he should not eat breast milk, as well as powdered milk formulas. It is necessary to transfer it to feeding with special mixtures that do not contain this type of carbohydrate.
How to diagnose a disease?
To make a diagnosis, first of all, the presence of a causal relationship between the use of foods that contain the allergen and the time when the symptoms of the disease appeared is revealed. In addition, special diagnostic measures are also carried out, including the following types of analyzes:
- determination of the level of hydrogen released in insufficiently digested lactose;
- bowel examination;
- analysis of feces for glucose, after eating dairy products.
Features of the treatment of lactose allergy
The first step that a patient must take to get rid of an allergy to lactose is to completely eliminate products containing this type of carbohydrate.
Lactose is found in all fermented milk products: milk, fermented baked milk, kefir, cottage cheese, cheese, etc. People who are allergic to it should stop using them. But besides this, it should be remembered that its traces can also be found in those products that, it would seem, have nothing to do with the manufacture of milk.
Lactose can be used in the manufacture of:
- sausage products;
- bread and pastries;
- sweets and desserts;
- flour products;
- semi-finished products;
- fast food;
- canned food;
- pre-mixed spices.
In addition to carefully examining the composition of products, it is also necessary to carefully study the composition of drugs. In addition to the food industry, lactose is also widely used in the pharmaceutical industry, being an excipient for many drugs, in the form of tablets and capsules.
To avoid a lack of calcium in the body, which in the diet of our person mainly comes from dairy products, it is necessary to introduce a sufficient amount of fish, soy milk and nuts into the diet.
In order to prevent the occurrence of lactose allergy, it is necessary to pay due attention to the prevention and treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Lactose allergy in infants often occurs when natural products are introduced too early or the baby consumes them in larger quantities than necessary. The pediatrician will necessarily acquaint you with both the order of their introduction and the required amount. These recommendations must be followed to prevent allergic disorders in the baby.
If the symptoms of lactose allergy are not caused by temporary phenomena, but by genetic characteristics, during which insufficient production of enzymes necessary for the processing of this substance occurs, then it is permanent. In this case, a person needs constant adherence to preventive measures in order to avoid gastrointestinal disorders and other dangerous consequences of this disease.
