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Home › Articles › Toddler Health › Lactose Intolerance

Lactose Intolerance

New Guidelines for Diagnosis and Diet

By Kelly Burgess

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Another myth is that lactose intolerance prohibits children from ingesting dairy products. All children need some dairy to get the important nutrients provided by this food group.

Terri Verason, director of nutrition education for the Dairy Council of Arizona, says it's important for even lactose intolerant children to consume some dairy foods because bone health and growth is so vital at this stage of rapid growth. "This is particularly true leading up to the preteen and teen years, especially for girls, because this is when you have that window of opportunity to develop those bones," she says.

Verason points out that often it merely requires an adjustment in how children eat dairy. She says that the AAP guidelines for eating for lactose intolerant children are easy to remember using the acronym DAIRY:

Drink milk in smaller amounts and take with food. The food will help with the digestive process so it doesn't have such a heavy lactose load.

Aged cheeses, such as cheddar, are excellent sources of calcium, but most of the lactose is removed in the processing.

Introduce dairy slowly and gradually increase the amount. Research suggests even those who think they're lactose intolerant have just a malabsorption problem. As your system gets used to eating small amounts of dairy you can increase the amount and can train your system to tolerate it.

Reduce your intake of lactose-containing products. Try lactose-free milk and milk products. Or try over-the-counter supplements that assist in digesting lactose.

Yogurt. Look specifically for yogurt with live and active cultures. This helps to digest the lactose as well. Anything that helps break lactose down into its component parts makes it easier to digest.

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