If you’ve read our blogs, you know I have a personal beef with sugar. Added sugar was once my crutch in life. When stressed, I turned to chocolate. If I celebrated something, I turned to cake. And when bored, I baked sweet stuff. It’s so addictive! And here’s my other beef with sugar – it can be difficult to identify. Because many of us are onto the fact that sugar is destructive, companies put it in the nutritional information with different names. I decided to do a blog series on the many names of sugar. So now, let’s answer the question: what is lactose?
What is Lactose?
Most of us have heard of lactose. It’s also called “milk sugar.” It’s naturally found in the milk of mammals, such as cows, goats, and humans. It makes up between 2 – 8% of milk, but not all milk products contain the same amount. It depends on the process used for making them and how much whey is in the product. The whey is where the sugar is found.
So, it is a naturally occurring sugar. We have it as infants when we breastfeed, so it can’t be all bad. It’s used as our primary energy source. But, like anything, we humans have found a way to isolate the sugar and add it to food. That’s when it becomes an issue. If you’ve read the other blogs in this series, you’ll see this is becoming a theme.
What is Lactose Used For?
Here’s something that shocked me – drug companies use it a lot. The actual drug required is often tiny, so they use it as a filler to bulk up the pill or inhaler powder to get it into your body. It is also used as a binder in pills to keep the medication all together. Who knew? Also, FYI, it is also used by drug manufacturers in illegal drugs as a filler. Just in case you are a recreational user who is lactose intolerant…
This sugar is also fermented to create cheese and yogurt. As a keto person, I applaud this process. I could not live without cheese. So, I guess I do kind of take in sugar still. Wow – there’s an eye opener. I may need to rethink my life choices! Kidding. We eat foods that are low in the sugar, like sour cream, parmesan cheese, and cream cheese.
Just like dextrose and fructose, companies isolate the lactose from the milk and put it into other processed foods for added sweetness. And, again, companies hide this sugar on nutritional labels by calling it something else. It is identified as milk solids, whey, milk sugar, and non-fat milk solids. That’s important to know, especially if you are intolerant!
You’ll find it added to products like coffee creamers, cream soups, and margarine. More surprisingly, it’s also added into soups, cereals, breads, and muesli bars. Bottom line, be aware of anything called milk solids on the nutritional labels, and check the labels on everything!
How Does it Affect Your Body?
When we are babies, this sugar is important. It’s not realistic to think you can feed an infant keto foods. So, as infants, we use it as our energy source. It helps us grow up healthy. When we start eating other food than breastmilk (or formula), that’s when our need for it ends. We still need calcium and protein, which is available in milk products, but we don’t need the sugar anymore.
We digest it through our small intestine. There is an enzyme that breaks it down into useful energy sources. Once we eat things other than milk, our bodies stop producing as much of that enzyme. Up to ⅔ of the population does not produce enough of the enzyme to properly digest lactose. But, that doesn’t mean we are intolerant – it just means not all of it gets digested and made into an energy source.
What Are the Long Term Effects?
Lactose itself is not usually seen as a contributing factor to obesity. However, if you are lactose intolerant, it can lead to bloating. Like I mentioned above, many of us don’t have enough of the enzyme to break it down and digest it. When that results in physical symptoms, they diagnose you as lactose intolerant. These symptoms include abdominal bloating, cramps, diarrhea, and gas when you take in lactose. I have several friends who are actually lactose intolerant, and it is not fun for them.
Do We Eat Lactose on Keto?
We sure do! Cheese is a daily ingredient in my diet. You can do keto without eating cheese, sour cream, and cream cheese but it takes a lot of planning. We did a blog with ideas for our lactose-intolerant friends on the site.
So, does this mean my anti-sugar stance is hypocritical? Not so much. See, the dairy we eat on keto are things that have very low levels of lactose. Sour cream, cream cheese, and hard cheeses (like parmesan) don’t have a lot of lactose in them. On the other hand, things like milk and yogurt have a lot of lactose in them, so that’s why we don’t eat them. Bottom line is – read the nutritional labels and make the best choice for you!
Wendy
