What Is Lactose & What Foods Can I Find It In?
Lactose is sometimes referred to as milk sugar.
Because it's a natural component in milk.
Nutritionally, milk and dairy products are an important source of energy, proteins, fats, and nutrients like calcium and vitamin D.
Lactose is particularly an important part of the energy supply for infants.
With age, some children lose their ability to digest large amounts of lactose. This can lead to lactose intolerance.
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Lactose, A Compound In Milk
Lactose is a disaccharide consisting of glucose and galactose, sometimes called milk sugar.
Lactose is a natural component in all kinds of human and animal milk. (source ◳)
Lactose constitutes a majority of the carbohydrate content of human and cow's milk and is an important part of the energy supply for infants in particular.
Milk and milk products contribute 73% of the calcium to the US food. (source ◳)
Benefits and side-effects of consuming lactose can you read about in Lactose: 3 Research-Backed Benefits & 2 Side-Effects
Lactose Intolerance
With age, many children lose their ability to digest large amounts of lactose, leading to lactose intolerance.
This permanent condition, which occurs in adolescence and adulthood, is not an important health concern, even though milk and milk products are important foods. (source ◳)
High incidences of lactose intolerance are found throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia and among Australian aborigines and Native Americans.
Lactose intolerance is most common in regions of the world where adults do not drink milk.
New research shows that people genetically intolerant to lactose, have lower blood levels of vitamin D than the general population. (source ◳)
Foods You Can Find Lactose In
You find Lactose mostly in baby food, sweets, dairy and egg, baked, products.
Examples of food sources include
- Infant formulas
- Similac
- Pediasure
- Eggnog
- Cheese Crackers
- Ice cream
Foods That Contain Lactose In Our Nutrition Tool
You can find regularly updated top ranked lists of foods for over 200+ nutrients in our nutrition tool.
If you are interested in what foods contain the most lactose we recommend you visit our tool.
Here's our top ranked list of foods that contain lactose.