Can Probiotics Help Lactose Intolerance? - Alicia Rojas

What is lactose intolerance?

​Being lactose intolerant can be very challenging for many people with choosing the types of food they eat in a daily basis; since many food industries use milk as a main ingredient in their food products, especially in processed foods. Lactose is the sugar found in milk and dairy products. People who are lactose intolerant are those who aren't able to digest lactose because the deficiency of lactase; an enzyme in the small intestine.  

Symptoms

Those who have been diagnosed with lactose intolerance have symptoms that include and are limited to gas, bloating, nausea and diarrhea and it happens within 30 minutes to 2 hours of consuming milk or dairy

Deficiencies

Those that are lactose intolerant try to avoid milk or dairy products and because of this they do not have the daily percentage of dairy they are suppose to have in a day. This has caused  them or can cause them to have a deficiency of calcium. Due to this deficiency in their non dairy diet, they are most susceptible to develop osteoporosis. ​

According to Critical Reviews in Food Science & Nutrition, more than 60% of the human population have low levels of lactase enzyme activity making it difficult for them to digest lactose.

What are probiotics?

Probiotics are live bacteria or yeast that supplements our gastrointestinal flora to help us digest and help fight disease causing  microorganisms.
​There has been many studies that show that that probiotics help to improve the lactose digestion and symptoms of lactose intolerance. There are many dietary probiotic supplements in a form of powder or tablets but there are many foods that contain probiotics as well. Many of these foods include yogurt, buttermilk, fermented and unfermented milk and soft cheeses. People who are lactose intolerant don't want to drink milk or any dairy foods because they can't digest it and the fear of abdominal pain but according to “Lactose Intolerance with Special Emphasis on Probiotics for Management”, "studies have shown better lactose digestion and less hydrogen production in patients with lactose intolerance who consumed milk containing probiotics". The reason that they have shown better digestion is because these dairy products in particular have lactic acid bacteria that help alleviate the symptoms by secreting lactase to the intestine and stomach.

So what do we do?

Overall it can be said that probiotics found in milk or dairy can help with lactose intolerance. It's mind blowing that dairy products makes  you have abdominal pain but with the right type of dairy product that has probiotics it can help your lactose intolerance because of the enzyme that it has.

Works Cited:

Devaraja Gayathri and Vasudha M. “Lactose Intolerance with Special Emphasis on Probiotics for Management”. EC Nutrition 13.5 (2018): 325-332.


Oak, S. J., & Jha, R. (2019). The effects of probiotics in lactose intolerance: A systematic review. Critical Reviews in Food Science & Nutrition, 59(11), 1675–1683.


Zheng, X., Chu, H., Cong, Y., Deng, Y., Long, Y., Zhu, Y., … Fox, M. (2015). Self-reported lactose intolerance in clinic patients with functional gastrointestinal symptoms: prevalence, risk factors, and impact on food choices. Neurogastroenterology & Motility, 27(8), 1138–1146.


Vandenplas, Y. (2015). Lactose intolerance. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 24, S9–S13.

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