Food Allergies to Milk

The Welling family hired an Asian maid who ended up having food allergies. The maid began to complain of stomach cramps and headaches being exposed to a more Western diet that included ice-cream and other dairy products. They took her to the Naturopathic Doctor and found that she was lactose intolerant and he advised her to stay away from dairy foods. So they cut out all dairy products and let her eat more fish and rice like she was used to and everything worked out just fine.

It is estimated that up to 50 percent of Filipinos are lactose-intolerant, a condition caused by a deficiency in lactase, an enzyme needed to absorb and digest the milk sugar, lactose. Lactose intolerance is genetic and occurs most often in people of Asian, African and Mediterranean descent. Lactose intolerance is not a disease. Rather, it is a condition. The simplest way to prevent symptoms of lactose intolerance is to avoid foods that contain lactose altogether. That seems to be the correct advise for many food allergies.

Primary acquired lactose intolerance is by far the most common type of lactose intolerance. While most infants can digest large amounts of lactose, about three-fourths of the world population loses much of the ability to digest lactose between the ages of two and five. This is a normal development process in all mammals. In rare cases, children are born without the ability to produce lactase, a condition known as congenital lactase deficiency. For most people though, lactase deficiency is a condition that develops naturally over time.

The tendency for many is to take medication to suppress the symptoms but that really does nothing about the problem itself. The lesson here is to be in tune with your body so you can recognize if and when something is just naturally not right for you. So interestingly enough, the solution for the maid was similar to their daughter Anna’s situation who suffered from allergic reaction to chicken meat; and that when they avoided the wrong foods they stopped getting sick.

In today’s societies where media advertising is heavily dependent of drug commercials and popular magazines with drug ads, the trend is to culturally create a drug mentality to health care solutions. Individuals have to think things out on their own and grow a strong enough information base to consider non-drug options in restoring their health. We sincerely hope this blog can serve the community as “the other voice” in your head as you evolve a higher personal philosophy of health.

Yours in Health,
docMIKE