Lactose-free milk: manufacturers, technology, benefits and harms

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

If you often visit supermarkets, you probably noticed bright boxes that say that they contain lactose-free milk. It is often associated with something artificial, other than a natural product, such as replacing sugar with a sugar substitute. In fact, this is far from being the case, although the need to eat it is due to the physiological characteristics of a person.

If you are completely he althy, you can safely consume regular or lactose-free milk, but for a person with a lactase deficiency, there is no such choice. Eating regular milk will result in him severe diarrhea, bloating and indigestion.

Lactose allergy

It's actually a type of food allergy. The body's immune system, for unknown reasons, begins to perceive milk protein as foreign, moreover, hostile to the body. A violent reaction starts, which from the outside looks like food poisoning. Usually within 30 minutes after drinking milk (ice cream, cheese, cottage cheese)cramping abdominal pain, rumbling, increased gas formation begin to appear. Often this ends with nausea or vomiting, severe diarrhea with frothy discharge, and skin rashes. Possible swelling of the larynx and respiratory organs.

In this case, it is recommended to completely exclude the ingestion of milk protein into the body. With mild manifestations of the disorder, it is enough to determine the safe dosage and not exceed it. In severe allergic reactions, both children and adults completely replace milk protein with vegetable analogues (soy milk). And sometimes this reaction extends only to cow's milk protein. Try eating goat for a while and see how your body reacts.

Lactose intolerance

Often these two concepts are confused. Indeed, intolerance and an allergic reaction are somewhat close, but have a different nature. In the first case, the immune system is not involved, which means that we cannot talk about allergies. The cause of the problem is the body's inability to digest milk sugar, a carbohydrate called lactose. If for an adult this is not such a problem, then lactose intolerance in children often turns into growth retardation, problems with the gastrointestinal tract, especially for babies.

What happens in the body? Milk enters the stomach, and from there to the intestines. And here the problem begins: the lack of a digestive enzyme (lactase) does not make it possible to break down and assimilate milk sugar, and it, in turn, serves as a breeding ground for putrefactive bacteria and microorganisms. This is how food intolerance develops. Its main difference from allergies is that there are no skin rashes and Quincke's edema never develops. This problem is somewhat easier to solve, since today there is lactose-free milk that can be consumed instead of the usual one, which will avoid unpleasant symptoms.

Main symptoms of lactose intolerance

Depending on the individual, this may be vomiting, severe abdominal pain, bloating or diarrhea. It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish it from similar symptoms of food poisoning and allergies. Diagnosis is especially difficult in young children. Be sure to contact the local pediatrician, he will help with the diagnosis and give certain recommendations.

If a doctor is not available (if you are on vacation, out of town), then just cancel dairy products and watch the reaction. If it gets better, then after a day, offer the baby lactose-free milk. What it is, we will consider in more detail below. If within an hour the symptoms that appeared earlier from ordinary milk did not appear, then you can breathe freely, this is not an allergy. If your city has a shop for the production of soy products, then feel free to go to the outlet to buy their milk, sour cream and tofu (cheese). These products contain vegetable, soy protein, are highly digestible and highly nutritious.

Lactose Free Formulas for Babies

When faced with the problem of individual lactose intolerance in a small child, parents most oftenthey start to panic. After all, milk and a he althy child are two concepts that merge in our minds into a single whole. In fact, everything is not so sad. Cow's milk was originally designed to feed a newborn calf and may not be ideal for a baby who has a very different digestive system. But nevertheless, it is a valuable product containing a lot of calcium and phosphorus, which children need.

The easiest solution is to give your baby lactose-free milk. What it is, you will be happy to tell the district pediatrician or sales consultant in the corporate department. All useful properties of milk are preserved in it. There is a wide range of such products on the market, ranging from lactose-free formulas for newborns to milk porridges for younger preschoolers.

The most famous manufacturers of lactose-free formulas for children are Valio (Finland), Humana (Germany), Hipp (Hungary), Heinz (England), Nestle Holland. They make high demands on their products, because this is the main food for the smallest. That is why this product is known and loved by mothers all over the world. Pediatricians recommend gradually transitioning children to low-lactose formulas, and then gradually trying regular foods. Often, with age, the production of an enzyme (lactase) increases, and digestion fully returns to normal.

What is lactose free milk

I must say that it is not much different from a cow. This is natural milk, from which, by means of a complexmembrane separation seized milk sugar, carbohydrate. If we take into account the technological subtleties, then we can say the following: there is a lactose-free product and its twin brother, milk with a low content of milk sugar. What suits you is selected - either empirically or on the basis of laboratory tests. The second way is faster and more preferable.

Lactose-free is slightly sweeter than regular milk. This will take some getting used to. Otherwise, the content of nutrients is absolutely identical, so if you do not have lactose intolerance, then it does not really matter which milk you eat.

Full nutrition

Often we cannot imagine a table without sour cream, kefir, cottage cheese and cheese. These are the most useful products, which are primarily important for a growing organism. It turns out that children with lactose intolerance are deprived of the opportunity to eat right? No, today import manufacturers have made sure that all the necessary products without lactose are on the shelves.

This is primarily milk, kefir, cottage cheese and cheese. An additional line includes yogurts, curds or creams, as well as butter, which can be added to cereals. The shelf life depends on the product and packaging, for example, milk in soft packaging is stored for 8 days, and in a tetra pack for several months.

If you live in a small town, and therefore there is no such abundance in supermarkets, then you can use the home method. Purchased lactose-free milk is quite easy to ferment using Linex capsules or"Bifidumbacterin" to get excellent yogurt. Straining it through cheesecloth, you can cook cottage cheese, and if you boil it and then hang it in cheesecloth, you will enjoy homemade cheese. There are quick ways to get cottage cheese: to do this, heat the milk and pour a capsule of calcium chloride into it. You will get a special curd enriched with an important mineral. So you can diversify your baby's diet, even if he suffers from severe lactose intolerance.

Valio products

This manufacturer is known throughout Russia. He is very helpful to many mothers. According to statistics, today about 15% of babies suffer from lactose intolerance. Sometimes it goes away with age, sometimes it doesn't. What is lactose-free milk, we learned thanks to Valio. Our domestic companies are only going to launch such production, but for many this is an impossible task, as it requires serious investments that will not pay off soon.

First time a Finnish company launched a production line in 2001. On the shelves of the northern country appeared products completely cleared of lactose and with reduced fat content. This was really important as the locals don't get much sun and therefore suffer from vitamin D deficiency. It is best absorbed with calcium, so dairy products are vital.

If in the first years of the company's work lactose in milk still remained, albeit in small quantities, today a new production lineavoids this completely. Due to an imperfect filtration system, the product had a sweetish taste. Some liked it, others not so much. But manufacturers were looking for an opportunity to achieve the perfect quality that would suit everyone. They succeeded. Valio lactose-free milk is now indistinguishable from ordinary store-bought milk.

If abroad this is already a familiar product, then the domestic consumer is just beginning to get acquainted with products that do not contain lactose. At the same time, the volume of its implementation exceeds all planned. This suggests that the Russians appreciated the high quality of Valio's dairy products. There is demand on the market, which means that domestic production with competitive prices for finished products is needed.

Lactose Free Milk Manufacturers

Practically the only perfect supplier to the Russian market today is Valio. Lactose-free milk of this brand meets all standards and is recognized as the best in its segment. There are a number of firms that have tried to repeat this feat, but the lack of funds to purchase expensive equipment and fine-tune the technology led to the fact that only low-lactose milk was produced. In this case, the easiest way was chosen, a digestive enzyme (lactase) was added to the milk, this led to a partial breakdown of lactose into glucose and galactose. That is why the consumer felt an unnatural, sweet aftertaste. Such a product is not safe for people with severe symptoms.and intolerance symptoms.

There are a number of studies comparing lactose-free products from different companies. Only Valio milk contains 0.01% milk sugar. Many low-lactose brands have reported 4.8%, which is almost equal to the level of lactose in whole milk.

In light of political events, sanctions and response measures, lactose-free milk has ceased to enter the domestic market. Manufacturers have lost a huge potential for growth and development, and many parents have lost an indispensable product for their children. It remains to use lactose-free infant formula, soy and goat milk. Today, Belarus launched the production of this important product under the Savushkin Product brand.

Production technology

So far there is no company in Russia that could buy or create its own technology. Valio keeps professional secrets strictly confidential. Even journalists admitted to their production are not allowed to take pictures of the production workshops.

The production of a lactose-free product requires high-tech equipment, special technology and multimillion-dollar investments. At the same time, the development of a new product can take several years. The world famous company Valio took 15 years to develop. Only after that they were able to patent and market their milk and other products. They can be consumed by a person with extreme lactose intolerance, while the taste is no different from regular dairy products.

To start your own production, you do not need to reinvent the wheel,Valio technology is licensed worldwide. It is already being successfully used in Norway, the USA and France. Domestic producers are interested in new opportunities, but they fear that due to large financial investments, the price of finished products will be unattractive for the consumer.

Lactose-free milk: benefits and harms

For a he althy person, milk is a valuable product, a source of minerals, vitamins, amino acids. With lactose deficiency, a person experiences discomfort, but this is not a problem of milk, but of the characteristics of his body. It is for such people that lactose-free milk is a real find. It contains the same set of useful substances, but it does not lead to unpleasant reactions from the gastrointestinal tract.

If lactose-free milk is not expired, all sanitary and hygienic standards are met, then it cannot harm the body. In addition, you should not dwell on a fresh product, because there are many of its derivatives on the market. In fermented milk products, the amount of lactose naturally decreases as bacteria break down the milk sugar (carbohydrate) during fermentation. If the side effects from eating dairy products are not too pronounced, you can use a little low-fat cottage cheese and kefir. Set the quantity experimentally, for someone it is 400 g of cottage cheese per day, and for another, a maximum of 100 g is suitable.

There is another option that will allow you to diversify your table without harm tohe alth. A gastroenterologist may prescribe special preparations containing digestive enzymes (lactase). Due to such compensation of enzymes, digestion will be normalized even when drinking ordinary milk. This is not a cure, as soon as you stop taking the drugs, digestion will return to its original state, since the body itself does not produce enough of this enzyme. But it can be a justified way to organize full feeding for a child. At a more mature age, you can get the necessary substances from substitute products.

Secrets of a beautiful figure: natural or lactose-free milk is better to choose?

All women strive to look beautiful and often sit on various diets. Protein fasting days are considered the most effective. The body spends a huge amount of energy to digest such products, in addition, protein is consumed daily for internal needs. To offset the cost, you will have to use the fat reserves that you need to get to.

In foreign countries, everyone who wants to lose weight has long been using lactose-free dairy products. The difference between them and the usual milk, kefir and cottage cheese is quite noticeable. This is about the same as drinking tea with or without sugar on a diet. The difference is due to the presence or absence of lactose. It is a carbohydrate, milk sugar, that breaks down into glucose and galactose and causes a rapid release of sugar into the bloodstream, after which we quickly feel hungry again.

WhenIn the production of lactose-free milk, all lactose is removed from it, and only useful substances remain. At the same time, the number of calories is reduced by 20%, and carbohydrates - by 35%. Accordingly, the effect of your diet will be a third higher, but for this you will not have to reduce the diet or expose yourself to additional, power loads. According to statistics, with a regular cottage cheese diet, it is possible to lose 5 kg in a week, and with a lactose-free fat-free product, 7 or more kilograms.

How accessible is the product to the customer

If residents of megacities already know everything about newfangled milk, cheese, cottage cheese and butter, then for small towns and rural districts the question of where to buy lactose-free milk will be quite relevant. If someone from the family is often on business trips, you can order him to bring a box of tetra packs. Even at room temperature, such a product can be stored for a very long time. Option two is to ask for lactose-free milk daily at a nearby store. Eventually sellers will find an opportunity to purchase a product that is in demand.

Summarize

You can say that lactose-free products are an opportunity for many people to return to a normal he althy diet. Since ancient times, milk and its derivatives have been considered a source of strength and he alth, not to mention how tasty they are and how many of them can be cooked. What to serve for breakfast to a child? Of course, milk porridge, and for an afternoon snack a sandwich with cheese and butter. Modern foodthe industry is making this a reality, even if the baby is lactose intolerant.