Need sustainable option for lactose intolerance

[lwheelr]

I'm TIRED of buying Lactase Enzyme just to be able to handle goat milk. I need the milk, it really helped to reduce the amount of supplements I have to take (I have malabsorption due to Crohn's Disease).

Yogurt is partially helpful, but not completely. I still have to use Lactase with yogurt, and with cheese, and while the amount I have to use has decreased some, for all dairy products, it is still significant. I still have to use 4-6 of those things per day, and I'm tired of paying for it (costs about $8 per week), tired of running out on the weekends (we live pretty far from town), etc.

I've done some research, but info is hard to find - everybody just tells you to take a pill, nobody really wants to tell you how to AVOID having to do so! Only one article really gave much info on how lactase enzyme can be made artificially, or stimulated in the gut. They mention two fungi that are used commercially to produce lactase, and one of them can be taken orally and it will produce lactase in the digestive system (Aspergillis oryzae).

The bacteria in yogurt can also break down lactose, but does not specifically produce lactase enzyme.

What I need, is a permanent solution - something I can make naturally or grow naturally and use with milk, or something I can use that will stimulate my body to start producing lactase again. This IS possible - I know this because it has happened before to me (of course, I was pregnant at the time, which isn't exactly helpful now), and recently as I've started to heal from the Crohn's, I've needed LESS lactase supplement to digest milk.

What I've read leads me to believe there is some way of colonizing and perpetuating the right fungi or bacteria, through fermentation, to provide a permanent and sustainable solution to lactose intolerance, so I am not tied to buying an endless supply of something I can't really afford.

I want it!

Any ideas?

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Have you tried Kefir? I would advise getting some grains and testing that out.

BUT! I am guessing that your gut may need some more healing.
Off to church in a bit, so I will let others chime in.

 

[lwheelr]

A little more research suggests that Kefir has two of the yeasts in it that do produce lactase, so definitely something to try if I can get some grains.

The Aspergillis fungus is used to brew saki and some other common fermented items, so it should be available, but cannot find it yet.

 

[ORChick]

I know very little about lactose intolerance, but I'll toss this out for what it might be worth. I have a friend with Crohn's, and she can tolerate kefir (though I don't know how well she tolerated milk products before the kefir; maybe better than you do). Also, the aspergillis (sp?) is also used, I believe, in making miso. 2 thoughts here - miso lasts for a long time, so it should be possible to buy enough that you needn't re-buy too often. Also, it is possible to make at home, though it sounds rather involved to me. However, if you find that it is useful for you it might be worth the bother. Katz in "Wild Fermentation" explains the process. My first thought while reading your post was that you should maybe just quit dairy altogether - is there some other way to get what you need without drinking milk?

 

[lwheelr]

Avoiding dairy is not an option for me. There are too few other things I can eat, and I need the nutrition - you can only cut out so many things before you really get into trouble if your diet is severely restricted. Goat's milk helps me enough that I save over $150 per month in supplements that I'd have to take otherwise, and the supplements did less than the goat's milk does.

Besides, frankly, I do not WANT to avoid dairy. I LIKE cheese and butter, hot chocolate, ice cream, etc. It is SO much harder to even put together a meal that I can digest at all without it, or to get enough out of other foods through the day. Milk isn't the only thing I have problems with - I have malabsorption that affects my protein absorption, many types of carbs, a few fats, and a whole range of vitamins and minerals.

If a food is easy for my body to break down, I get way more out of it. If I have to stop using milk, then there are no other foods that I can break down enough to get sufficient calcium. I can't get enough out of vegetables, because I can't break them down far enough.

We have a doctor here who is rabidly anti-dairy. He keeps telling me that if I will just quit drinking milk, all my problems will go away. He has some other theories also, which make absolutely no sense given the degree of malabsorption that I have (he doesn't believe that anyone who is overweight can have malabsorption, even though he is the one who diagnosed B12 deficiency in me - and I EAT plenty of foods containing it, and he doesn't believe that anyone who is overweight will have severe hunger pains if they don't eat, either).

So after he told me this, we had a really bad financial crunch. So bad that I could not buy milk for about a week. This was a few months ago, before we got the goats. I had a very bad time of it. Constant heart palpitations, dizziness, fairly severe muscle weakness, fatigue, and almost constant cramping hunger pain that got worse the longer I went without milk.

Except for the lactose issue, the goat milk has been really great. I have to be careful how I prepare milk products - still have problems with cooked milk proteins - but overall it has really helped me feel better and make a fairly significant step forward in recovery.

 

[freemotion]

I wonder if you could use kefir medicinally by taking a spoonful of it before you eat your raw dairy products. I could send you some grains if you want to try. Just read up on it a bit first (if you haven't already done so) so you'll know if you want them....you probably will! We have some threads here, too, that are quite informative. PM me your address if you want some (free.) I have a few left in the freezer and will ship cultures this week because it is finally reliably cold enough not to kill them. Hopefully. Many planes from here are routed through Atlanta, GA.

Have you read Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon yet? I had a naturopath who helped me tremendously with my cranky digestive system and most of what I do comes from that book. The first step was healing the digestive tract, (not so easy with Crohn's, but any healing will be helpful, I'm sure) and most of that was done with kombucha and traditionally prepared bone broths taken daily for a year or two. Also lots of digestive enzymes and fermented foods. I fell off the wagon a bit this summer when it was exhaustingly hot for months on end and I couldn't ferment and didn't feel like cooking and now I have to play catch-up.

Your doctor is an idiot.

It's All In Your Genes is an interesting book. How our bodies' utilize (or not) different nutrients is determined genetically as well as through diet. Some people do not utilize B's very efficiently for example due to a variation in a gene called a SnP (single nucleotide polymorphism.) Depletion has few clear symptoms for diagnosis but causes many problems. People with this variation NEED to supplement. I do, and don't sleep, have nightmares, and get depressed if I don't supplement, and I need beyond the label recommendations especially in winter. Same with calcium for me. And I have several SnP's for detoxification, so a handful of blueberries is not gonna cut it for me....I was becoming very chemical-sensitive and could get a migraine from one sniff of artificial scents until I learned to support detoxification in every way possible. Having malfunctioning intestines doesn't help, either, as this is a main way that toxins are moved out of the body! I bet you have similar SnP's.

OK, I've yammered on enough, gotta go outside and get some work done before dark....

 

[lwheelr]

Thanks for the kind offer.

In defense of the doctor, he does get some things right. He just has a real blind spot with milk and malabsorption issues. I'm educating him though.

 

[lwheelr]

Oh, and I had my morning wheatgrass, milk, and banana shake with some yogurt stirred in. I have not yet had a bellyache from it, so I think that your idea of using Kefir in the place of lactase may work.

I'm wondering if there is a way to dry it with active cultures so that it could be carried with me? I usually stock the car, my laptop bag, coat pocket, purse, etc, with lactase.

I am also wondering whether, long term, the Kefir might help balance out my intestinal flora better so I can handle milk better without supplementation.

 

[TanksHill]

I honestly think you could take a jar of kefir in your car. Maybe a separate chunk of grains form the ones at home. Just in case. I have taken my kefir to the desert with me.

 

[lwheelr]

This is Wyoming... It is different than elsewhere.

I don't have any problem with keeping something like that going while on the road, when we are out traveling for an extended trip, and can plan ahead. It is for when we CAN'T plan ahead that I need a storable emergency solution.

It is an hour to town. We often get stuck later than we planned, and have to grab something quick to eat. Worse, sometimes the roads close in the winter, and we get stuck for a long time in town. Since I can't digest cow's milk all that well, commercial Kefir just wouldn't be a good idea. I usually keep dried fruit, and other emergency snacks in the car, just in case, but it isn't enough to weather a road closure.

Even if we manage to move (a totally separate, incredibly DISCOURAGING topic), we'll still be out, away from town, and that kind of situation will continue to occur.

Best would be if I can pack up something that I can preserve myself, that would work in emergencies.