Lactaid Inc.
POB 111
Pleasantville, New Jersey, 08232
1-800-257-8650

Lactaid Inc. also produces a product called Beano "an enzyme to stop the gas from beans, chili, cabbage and more. Call our hotline for a sample. " [The 800 number above.]) Their packaging also notes something which Dairy Ease does not: "Allergy note: Some sensitive persons may experience nausea or gastric upset. Lactaid drops may be substituted. Call our hotline for sample and information. (I would recommend assuming that this is so of both tablets. It's a little bizarre when you take something which is supposed to prevent a thing the package warns you is a possible side effect of the product involved.)

Dairy Ease
Winthrop Consumer Products
Glenbrook Laboratories,
Division of Sterling Drug, Inc.
NYC, NY, 10016

Note also that Lactaid now produces and sells a 4,500 LU tablet, and there are now generic brands in both the 3,000 LU and Extra Strength 4,500 LU doses. I believe I have also possibly seen the 3,300 LU dose as a generic, but don't quote me on that. March 10, 2002: Update: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/stevecarper/DROPS.htm [Sigh. DAMNIT. For those of us who really don't like milk all that much (considering it's pretty much poisonous), and really dislike the mouthfeel of the pills or just the act of having to take pills at all, this is an ugly blow. If we're going to use non-fermented dairy products at all and have no interest in investing in an entire quart of treated milk we'll never finish, this is a problem. On this site is an address to write to in Canada for the company that makes lactase liquid for the company selling it (Lacteeze), Steve Carper writes: "To order you can e-mail gelda@globalserve.net or use older technologies to call or write Arvind Gelda or Yuklin Gelda at: Gelda Scientific 6320 Northwest Dr. Mississauga, ON L4V 1J7 (905) 673-9320 FAX 905-673-8114 " I urge everyone who reads this or goes to Steve's page to get in touch with them and order it, and then to talk to your grocers and druggists and also urge them to carry this as well. If many of us do this in the US, it should help speed distribution of liquid lactase drops in this country and fill in the gap left so suddenly by Lactaid. No wonder it disappeared from my local shelves all of a sudden! My guess is their liquid lactase probably now all goes to their prepared dairy products. Note that I just stumbled on this info today and haven't had time to contact Gelda yet, it's possible they're tired of hearing requests from their neighbours to the south for this product, but I still think it's worth contacting them. Other info that's crossed my desk today for Canadian readers at least:] http://www.kingsmillfoods.com/prodmenu.htm (the Lacteeze webpage) They list some other websites which carry the Lacteeze products, and list some stores in Canada to find them on the shelves, and also list the address for Gelda Scientific. This page also lists a few non-wheat items, for those with additional GI tract problems. A public announcement by Lactaid of their intention to discontinue the drops wouldn't've been such a bad idea. I learned a long time ago that I won't finish a quart of Lactaid pre-prepared milk.] ========================================

(From the LACTAID pamphlet)

Below I copied in the information froom the Lactaid pamphlet and added my own comments, plus a comparison between the then available 3,000 LU and 3,300 LU doses, which I hope isn't too confusing. Some comparison is also done between dry milk (in which the milk sugar is concentrated) and the amount of milk sugar dry milk has when reconstituted with water as per carton directions (1-1/3C dry + water to make a quart of milk). The resulting milk and water mix has a much higher amount of lactose per cup, as opposed to what liquid milk has.
You will also note the higher milk sugar content of condensed milk. Evaporate milk, while not covered in my notes, is also much higher in milk sugar than liquid milk.
The 3,300 LU dosage did not come in a drop form, and so far I have not seen it in the past four years.

Something else: from http://www.smart.net/~hymowitz/lactose/pills.html I get: "Some pills refer to FCC Lactase Units, while others refer to Milligrams of Lactase. There are 15 FCC Lactase Units per Milligram. Some pills may include nutrients, sugars, preservatives, or solidifiers. I'm trying to list ingredients of each pill. I make no comments about the ingredients."
That cleared up that mystery for me. I'd never known what FCC Lactase Units really referred to, it was just a handwaving, nebulous assumed-standard but I did not know what the exact measurement was. This means that in an LU 3,000 tablet (pill), there are 200 mgs of lactase, given 15 LU/mg. (This is in addition to whatever the amount of the fillers comes to.)

Product			Lactose             Calcium (mg)
  
Milk, whole, fluid       11gms/C                 291/C
Milk, lowfat 2% fat      12gms/C                 297/C
Milk, lowfat 1% fat      12gms/C                 300/C
Milk, skim               12gms/C                 302/C

Milk, whole, dry @3,000LU:  49gms/C            1,168/C
			 (65.17gms/ 1-1/3C dry milk)
                         (12.25 / 13.03gms lactose / 8ozs mixed up]  
			 (9 (@3,000 LU tablets))    (12drops)
                         @3,300LU:   (8 tablets)   (11 drops)

Milk, nonfat, dry	 @3,000LU:  62.4gms/C 	1,508/calcium/C (2010.66/C)
			(83 gms/1-1/3C dry milk)  
                        (15.6 /26 gms lactose /8ozs mixed  up)          
			(11.3 tablets)          (20 drops)
                        @3,300LU:  (10.17 tablets)    (18 drops)

Milk, chocolate         10-12gms/C                280/calcium/C
Milk, sweetened, condensed 35gms/C                868/calcium/C
Buttermilk               9-11gms/C                285/C
Whipped cream topping    4gm/1T                    10/mg calcium/T
Light cream              6gm/1T                    14/mg calcium/T
Half & Half              0.6gm/1T                  16/T
Yogurt (whole milk)      11gms/C                  274/C	(cultured)
Yogurt (lowfat, plain)    
(milk solids added)      15gms/C                  415/C	(cultured)

Note that because yogurt is a cultured item, the microbes eat the milk
sugar and then it becomes the sour part of yogurt, the lactic acid.  The
milk sugar is predigested in yogurt, but this is a very different microbe
than something like buttermilk, which if cultured, may be cultured only
with acidophilus.  That does not render the milk sugar predigested, so
remember to treat it much as if it were plain milk and dose it as your
needs require.  Cream cheese is made from sourcream, which is cultured 
cream.  The sourcream is drained, much like making Yogurt Cheese or Curd, 
and if I recall correctly, rennet may also be added.  As a cultured dairy
product they are both then much lower in lactose content than the original
cream.

Below should help explain to those who think they are or know they are
lactose-intolerant just why we can eat cheese and not drink milk or
cream.  Also note other possible causes for gastric distress when eating
dairy foods might be: allergy to casein (milk protein), in which case
cheese would be a problem, allergy to the coagulent used to make the
curds in non-acid curd cheeses (rennet allergy), allergy to some aspect 
of the kind of fodder used for the dairy cows.  (I know two people
allergic to beef for just this reason.)

Dietitions, etc., seem to believe that 1oz is a "serving" of cheese.
I know few people who stop with 1oz of their favorite cheese, sorry.

Cheese:

Product                       Lactose                      Calcium (mg)
Blue                          .7gm/1oz.                    150/1oz.
Camembert                     .1gm/1oz.                    110/1oz.
Cheddar                       .4-.6gm/1oz.                 204/1oz
Colby                         .7gm/1oz.                    194/1oz.
Cream                         .8gm/1oz.                     23/1oz.
Parmesan                      .8gm/1oz.                    390/1oz.
American pasteurized process  .5gm/1oz.                    174/1oz.
Pasteurized process cheese food  2.1gms/1oz.               163/1oz.
Swiss                         .4-.6gm/1oz.                 219/1oz.
Cottage cheese                 5-6gms/C                    126/C
Cottage cheese, 2% lowfat      7-8gms/C                    155/C

The harder a cheese, the less lactose it contains.  Some cheeses are what
are called "washed curd cheeses", most of those are also the hard cheeses,
and what happens is that once the curds have been formed, the whey and
what are now other "impurities" (extra coagulant, etc.) are literally
rinsed off of the curds, which are strained out of the liquid and into
a mold.  Cottage cheese is not a molded, aged cheese; Cheddar and Swiss
are.  Much of American Cheese and related products tends to be Cheddar.
Blue cheese is not only aged, but molds are carefully added during the 
aging process (I'm not sure if they act much on the lactose content, 
though).

Some people have trouble with ricotta cheese.  This is an acid-curd, whey
cheese, made by saving the whey from cow's or goat's milk (which has
less milk sugar to begin with) cheese and immediately adding milk and
vinegar or lemon juice.  This is heated to form the curds.  The curd is 
then hung to drain after the curds form.  The Indian cheese Chenna ka 
Paneer, made from Paneer, is also an acid-curd cheese, but it's rinsed 
before pressing for a few hours, which seems to remove the remaining 
milk sugar.


Note below that Sherbet and Sorbet are not the same thing.  Sorbet 
is all fruit, Sherbet is made with at least milk, hence the 4gms lactose 
per cup.  

Why can we eat butter, but not something like sherbet?  

Butter is mostly milk fat, there is little or no milk sugar 
left once the butter coagulates from the cream.  When you make ghee or
clarified butter, theose things left in the bottom of the pot are a
mix of milk sugar and mostly casein solids left over from the making
of the butter itself and simply caramelized in the process of making 
the ghee.

Product                         Lactose                    Calcium (mg)
Butter                         0.1/ 2 pats                    1/pat
Ice cream, vanilla             9gms/C                       176/C
Icemilk, vanilla              10gms/C                       176/C
Sherbet, orange                4gms/C                       103/C


(Watch out for the lactose in listings that include such things as:  
milk solids (including non-fat milk solids, whey, lactose)

See: Lactose Intolerance by Ellen Eagan (http://www.panix.com/~nomilk/eagan.shtml), or read this copy below:

Lactose Intolerance by Ellen Eagan

The area in the intestines where lactase, the enzyme needed to break down 
lactose, is produced is called the brush border. It is at the ends of the 
microvilli. It is only one cell deep. As most people age, their ability to 
produce lactase decreases.  Sometimes it decreases to the point where you 
are unable to deal with all of the lactose that you ingest.

If you have decreased production of lactase and then something else happens 
to compromise the integrity of the brush border, it cases further reduction 
of lactase production. If you continue to take in lactose, that causes more 
irritation and loss of lactase production. It becomes a vicious negative 
feedback cycle.

When you are suffering from celiac sprue, there is damage to your intestinal 
villi. This can make one temporarily lactase deficient to the point where 
lactose becomes a problem also. This happened in my case. Once I started on 
the gluten-free diet and my intestines had healed, lactose was no longer a 
problem for me. I can eat any diary product now with no problems.

Not everyone will be so lucky. A lot of people will remain lactase deficient. 
Yogurt and aged cheeses are more easily tolerated because some of the 
lactose has been converted to lactic acid. One rule of thumb is that the 
higher the fat content of the dairy product, the lower the lactose level. 
People who are still producing some lactase would then be able to eat a 
very rich ice cream but would be bothered by skim milk or ice milk.

I highly recommend the book "No Milk Today: How to Live With Lactose 
Intolerance" (Steve Carper, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1986 ISBN 0-671-60301-0). 
I found it at my local library. It's an excellent book for explaining 
the process, describing hidden sources of lactose (like whey), and tips 
on eating out. In regards to the fat content and lactose level I quote 
from page 119 of the book:

>Foods with high milk fat tend to be lower in lactose than other milk 
>products. Heavy cream is lower in lactose than light cream, which in 
>turn is lower than whole milk. Butter is higher in fat than any of 
>these, and in turn is the lowest in lactose.

It was mentioned that aged cheeses are lower in lactose than unaged 
cheeses because the lactose had been broken down during the aging process.

So, even though lactase deficiency and gluten intolerance can give the 
same symptoms, they are not caused by the same processes. Lactose is 
composed of two sugars. The problems arise when you are unable to break it 
into its two parts and absorb them.

Gluten is a protein. It seems to cause a problem due to an immunological 
response as far as I know, there are no similarities between them.

I hope this is helpful. 
Ellen Eagan 
eagan@pangloss.ucsf.edu

Return to NOMILK main page (NOMILK main page)

Last updated: 17-Jul-97, 00:01 EDT 
Send questions, comments or additions to donwiss at panix com 

        As Scientists Pinpoint the Genetic Reason for Lactose 
	Intolerance, Unknowns Remain

January 14, 2002 

By NICHOLAS WADE

Researchers have identified the genetic basis of lactose
intolerance, the inability of most adults in the world to
digest the principal sugar in milk. The finding, published
today in the journal Nature Genetics, may lead to the
development of a more accurate test for the condition. 

Lactose intolerance can cause bloating and indigestion from
consuming milk or milk products. More than 30 million
Americans, mostly black or Asian, are prone to the
condition. 

Though lactose intolerance may sound like a disorder, it is
in fact natural. In most people the gene for lactase, the
enzyme that digests lactose, is switched on at birth and
switched off at the age of weaning. 

In most Europeans, however, the lactase gene remains
active. With the domestication of cattle and goats in the
Near East some 10,000 years ago, the ability to digest
lactose throughout life could have conferred some
nutritional advantage. Biologists speculate that a mutation
that prolonged the gene's activity was suddenly favored and
spread throughout the population. 

But one finding has baffled biologists: the gene for the
lactase enzyme and the gene's promoter, a neighboring
region of DNA that controls the activity of the gene, show
no significant difference between populations whose adults
can digest lactose and those whose adults cannot. 

Now a team of Finnish and American biologists reports that
it has identified two single-unit DNA changes that
correlate strongly with the presence or absence of adult
lactase activity. 

The changes were found by studying the sequence of DNA
units near the lactase gene in nine Finnish families. About
20 percent of Scandinavians are lactose intolerant, and
Finnish scientists had collected elaborate pedigrees of the
trait, allowing the precise DNA changes to be identified,
said Dr. Leena Peltonen, an author of the study who works
at the University of Helsinki. 


A genetic test based on the finding will enable lactose
intolerance to be diagnosed from the DNA in a drop of
blood, Dr. Peltonen said. Now, the condition is recognized
by measuring he hydrogen generated from undigested lactose
by the bacteria in the gut. 
But some experts do not see any particular need for a
genetic test, because they do not regard lactose
intolerance as a clinically serious condition. Dr. Michael
D. Levitt of the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical
Center, whose specialty is the study of intestinal gas,
said that in most people an inactive lactase gene was
rarely a problem unless they drank large amounts of milk. 

Many people who believe they have problems digesting
lactose actually have irritable bowel syndrome, Dr. Levitt
said. 

Dr. Levitt, who invented the hydrogen test for lactose
intolerance, said concern about the condition was "mostly
an American phenomenon, and the rest of the world is not
much interested in it." He says the concern about lactose
has arisen because "there is a tremendous amount of
irritable bowel syndrome, and people would like to find a
cause for it." 

Dr. Stephen James, an official of the National Institute of
Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, agrees that
doctors and patients sometimes get diverted into a hunt for
minute traces of lactose in the diet when the real problem
is irritable bowel syndrome, a poorly understood condition
for which there is no test except ruling out everything
else. 

The authors of the new report say the two DNA units that
switch off the lactase gene are in the 9th and 13th introns
in a neighboring gene whose role strangely has nothing to
do with lactose metabolism. Introns are the spacer regions
of DNA that separate the information-coding parts of a
gene. Because the cell cuts out and discards the introns
when a gene is activated, these disposable pieces of DNA
have long been ignored. Now it seems they play unexpected
roles in gene control. 

In the default human condition, in which the lactase gene
is programmed to turn off after weaning, people have C in
the 9th intron position of both their maternal and paternal
DNA and G in both the 13th intron positions. But changing
the C to a T and the G to an A in either or both sets of a
person's DNA keeps the gene from switching off in the cells
that line the intestine. (The four letters of the DNA
alphabet are A, T, C and G, and one full set of DNA is
inherited from each parent.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/14/health/14LACT.html?ex=1012115292&ei=1&en=0367f6
15f4ee7e05

Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company