Lactaid Becoming Less Effective?

[Sweetfudge]

i've been using lactaid fast act pretty regularly over the last couple months and wonder if i could build up an immunity to it or something? i feel like it's not working as well as it used to anyone have any thoughts?

[tarnalberry]

you can't build up an immunity - it's the enzyme that breaks up the milk sugar, so it's doing the work that your own enzymes would do if you produced those enzymes. but you may find that you need to increase the dosage if your body is producing less and less of your own enzyme (which can happen naturally in people as they age or in lactose-intolerant populations, which is most of them, regardless of your use of lactaid). or, it could be a developing issue with casein. one interesting note is that the body will produce less lactase when it needs less, so if it's exposed to less milk products, it will produce less of it (hence, you can have induced lactose intolerance, but it generally goes away fairly quickly once dairy is reintroduced regularly).

[debmidge]

I am severely lactose intolerant....I am from a "lactose-intolerant" population.

I have been using Lactaid since it first came out 20 years ago. When it first came out it was a liquid and you dropped the enzyme into the milk carton, shook it up and waited 24 hrs for the enzyme to work. I wish they made both the drops and the pills as the drops were excellent to put into canned milk or heavy cream; lactose free canned milk or heavy cream products are still unavailable.

Anyway, I find the pills to be "pot-shot" - will work Ok, then sometimes barely work. Many foods require more than the amount of pills shown on the label.

There are some foods which no amount of Lactaid will help 100% - like cream soups, cream sauces, natural ice creams, whipped cream desserts, cheesecakes, macaroni & cheese, cream cheese and dips, yogurt, cottage cheese, items such as Cozy Shack puddings, anything with calcium lactate in it (that's why I avoid foods fortified with calcium), "pink" sauces, Risotta, egg nog, canned milk.

I've learned that the "harder" the cheese, the less lactose is in it: for example: grated cheese has lower lactose than cottage cheese.

I was found to have lactose intolerance when I was 21 (I am now 51) and as a teen and young adult I always ate dairy, drank milk regularly, etc. and I continued doing so until I was doubled over in pain every day on a regular basis.

My experience has been that despite using the theory that "that the body will produce less lactase when it needs less, so if it's exposed to less milk products, it will produce less of it (hence, you can have induced lactose intolerance, but it generally goes away fairly quickly once dairy is reintroduced regularly" as described by tarnalberry, did not work.

Unknowingly, I still kept it up as I didn't know what the gastro problem was (thought I had IBS/colitis). I still lived at home and one day my Mom and I were talking about it (she confronted me as she thought I was pregnant due to these symptoms!) and she mentioned that it could be diary, which I stopped having then and found relief. I used to drink a half pint of milk every day with my lunch - even at age 21 when I was working. My co-workers used to make fun of me - but I didn't want osteoporosis.

Yes, I reintroduced dairy numerous times using the above theory and it didn't work; over the past 30 years I tried to break the lactaid cycle using this theory and was always disappointed (and full of gas and diarrhea).

I would recommend trying to go back to diary llike tarnalberry pointed out because everyone is different and just because it didn't work out for me won't mean that it won't reverse itself for you (especially since your lactose intolerance may be temporary due to celiac). My experience is not the "be all" and "end all" but for me it's obviously permanent. But I have to say that my heritage (Italian) is known for being lactose intolerant, however they cook a lot of foods with dairy/cheese in it and I am the only child out of 4 which has this problem - my Italian parents and grandparents didn't have lactose intolerance (the other side is Scott/German/English/Irish). Go figure....