Lactose Intolerant People of Metafilter, Please Share Your Wisdom
October 23, 2022 9:37 AM
As a lactose intolerant person, generic Lactaid tablets allow me to enjoy yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream, and the like. And one 9000 unit caplet is always enough to do the trick. While I would love to eat ice cream once in a while, one caplet just doesn't protect me from the onslaught of lactose. Before I take the risk of actually trying ice cream with two or three caplets as protection, I would love to hear from others in similar situations as to whether that has worked for you.
Following this myself, though lactose intolerance can vary quite a bit from person to person. One Lactaid is definitely not enough for me for any quantity of ice cream, for example.
I generally bring out the big guns for something high risk like ice cream, and use other products either in addition to Lactaid or instead of Lactaid. For example, I often use one or two Lactaid tablets and add a NOW Supplements, Dairy Digest Complete tablet, and if I'm really worried I might do an Enzymedica Lacto tablet (these are expensive so I save them for the big risk foods).
You may have to do a bit of experimenting, because I hear of some people being ok taking 2 or even 3 Lactaids for ice cream, and some people find they just can't do ice cream, even using Lactaid or Lactaid like products.
posted by gudrun at 10:07 AM on October 23, 2022
I generally bring out the big guns for something high risk like ice cream, and use other products either in addition to Lactaid or instead of Lactaid. For example, I often use one or two Lactaid tablets and add a NOW Supplements, Dairy Digest Complete tablet, and if I'm really worried I might do an Enzymedica Lacto tablet (these are expensive so I save them for the big risk foods).
You may have to do a bit of experimenting, because I hear of some people being ok taking 2 or even 3 Lactaids for ice cream, and some people find they just can't do ice cream, even using Lactaid or Lactaid like products.
posted by gudrun at 10:07 AM on October 23, 2022
I regularly take six with a serving of ice cream; any fewer than six and we have a problem.
Go forth and enjoy, friend. You may find that different dairy products require different numbers of tablets. One of my elderly relatives was severely lactose intolerant and was taking a minimum of 12 Lactaid tablets twice each day because his life-saving medications used lactose as a binder and he had his doctors’ full blessing to take as much Lactaid as he needed, the rationale being that it’s an enzyme that you would produce on your own and not a drug.
posted by corey flood at 10:13 AM on October 23, 2022
Go forth and enjoy, friend. You may find that different dairy products require different numbers of tablets. One of my elderly relatives was severely lactose intolerant and was taking a minimum of 12 Lactaid tablets twice each day because his life-saving medications used lactose as a binder and he had his doctors’ full blessing to take as much Lactaid as he needed, the rationale being that it’s an enzyme that you would produce on your own and not a drug.
posted by corey flood at 10:13 AM on October 23, 2022
Forgot to add that Lactaid also makes some very good lactose-free ice cream in the event that the tablets don’t work out for you!
posted by corey flood at 10:15 AM on October 23, 2022
posted by corey flood at 10:15 AM on October 23, 2022
Dr. Advicepig says take as many as you like it it helps. For me, that’s 6 for a “single scoop” at most places. I take 8 with a Neapolitan pizza. She takes them at a similar rate
posted by advicepig at 10:18 AM on October 23, 2022
posted by advicepig at 10:18 AM on October 23, 2022
I’ve been taking 4-6 lactaid tablets for pizza and ice cream for years with no ill effects! For new foods, I do my experimenting on days when I plan to stay close to home.
posted by kiripin at 10:22 AM on October 23, 2022
posted by kiripin at 10:22 AM on October 23, 2022
I bought some in Greece and the smallest size was sixty thousand unit pills. You can definitely take more.
Also, are you taking them ahead of time? It helps.
posted by flimflam at 10:26 AM on October 23, 2022
Also, are you taking them ahead of time? It helps.
posted by flimflam at 10:26 AM on October 23, 2022
Here to say I periodically take more than one, and also that I time-stagger them. Like if I'm going out for a meal and I know I'm going to get that dessert that'll take me out, I'll have one early in the meal and another about 20 minutes before dessert and then one with dessert and possibly one after if I remember.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:30 AM on October 23, 2022
posted by Lyn Never at 10:30 AM on October 23, 2022
I don't have to take anywhere near as much as some people here do; lucky that way.
That being said - If I've recently been sick, or had more-than-usual dairy the past couple of days or am otherwise not at my best I do need to take more. Sometimes a lot more.
Generally I do best with cultured hard cheese and very high fat ice cream & yogurt. 2-3 Lactaid per (reasonable) serving. If I'm sick I automatically double that. When I had covid and had ice cream delivered from the favourite local place because my through hurt so much I quadrupled it. YMMV.
posted by mce at 10:38 AM on October 23, 2022
That being said - If I've recently been sick, or had more-than-usual dairy the past couple of days or am otherwise not at my best I do need to take more. Sometimes a lot more.
Generally I do best with cultured hard cheese and very high fat ice cream & yogurt. 2-3 Lactaid per (reasonable) serving. If I'm sick I automatically double that. When I had covid and had ice cream delivered from the favourite local place because my through hurt so much I quadrupled it. YMMV.
posted by mce at 10:38 AM on October 23, 2022
It works for mrs. kingless. One with the 1st bite and another 10-15 minutes later.
posted by kingless at 11:02 AM on October 23, 2022
posted by kingless at 11:02 AM on October 23, 2022
Yep. I take 2-3 for e.g. a pizza.
OTOH, I used to take 6, then 10, then 12 for ice cream and then just gave it up as Not Worth It and moved onto Lactaid ice cream - which means very limited flavor selections :(
posted by dmd at 11:13 AM on October 23, 2022
OTOH, I used to take 6, then 10, then 12 for ice cream and then just gave it up as Not Worth It and moved onto Lactaid ice cream - which means very limited flavor selections :(
posted by dmd at 11:13 AM on October 23, 2022
Recommending lactaid brand ice cream! Otherwise I would take 3-4 lactaids for a very small serve of ice cream (less than 1/4 of a cup). I've never tried upping to 6 or more tablets and even if I did I wouldn't dare try more than a half cup of ice cream. I miss it but damn is it a gut exploder.
posted by emd3737 at 1:32 PM on October 23, 2022
posted by emd3737 at 1:32 PM on October 23, 2022
All ice creams are not created equal. Pay attention to the ingredients list. I find that premium ice creams that are all or mostly cream are very easy to deal with—one pill is fine. Look for cream as the top ingredient. Many ice creams are packed with extra milk, milk powder, buttermilk, milk solids, and whey (a.k.a. lactose bombs)—which will require a lot more lactase to counteract the higher concentration. But by all means, take 2-3 pills if that's what it takes.
posted by amusebuche at 6:11 PM on October 23, 2022
posted by amusebuche at 6:11 PM on October 23, 2022
[One deleted. Sorry, "piggyback" questions are not allowed, but it's 100% okay to just post your own question; it doesn't matter if it's similar to an existing question!]
posted by taz at 1:17 AM on October 24, 2022
posted by taz at 1:17 AM on October 24, 2022
Chiming in with the 4-6 Lactaid pills crowd. I've also noticed that sometimes I need to take a few days' break from eating dairy if the pills don't seem to be working well. After the break, they work fine. I assume that with enough dairy for long enough my gut gets irritated and taking a break from it allows my gut to calm down.
posted by telophase at 12:34 PM on October 24, 2022
posted by telophase at 12:34 PM on October 24, 2022
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This is directly from the brand name Lactaid website: Depending on the food you are eating and how much lactose it has in it, coupled with your sensitivity to lactose, you will need to take 1 or more supplements with your first bite or sip of dairy, as directed on the package. If you continue to eat foods containing dairy after 30-45 minutes, we recommend taking another dose.
posted by rachaelfaith at 9:54 AM on October 23, 2022