5 Things You Need to Know About Lactose in Cheese

1. Milk Nutrition

Milk consists of milk solids and milk liquids. The carbohydrate source in milk is lactose, commonly known as milk sugar. The protein is casein and the percentage on the milk containers indicate the percentage of fat that particular product has. Skim milk has zero fat calories per 8 ounce serving. One percent has 20 fat calories per serving, two percent has 45 fat calories per serving and regular or whole milk (three and a half percent) has 70 fat calories per serving. Milk is known for its calcium, potassium, protein and Vitamin D nutrients. Strong bones, healthy teeth and prevention of osteoporosis are due in part to these nutrients that often come from adequate amounts of milk and milk products in your diet.

2. Mystery of Milk Allergy Versus Milk Intolerance

If you have a milk allergy, you cannot have any milk or milk products. But if you have milk intolerance (often called lactose intolerance), you will be able to get away with inclusion of some milk or milk products depending upon the severity of their intolerance.
Your intolerance can be due to milk sugar lactose or milk protein casein or to the amount of fat in that milk product. This is the reason why you might wonder why some milk products do not give you any discomfort and some do.

3. Cheese Production

For making cheese, starter bacterial cultures, enzymes or acidic products like vinegar or citric acid are added to milk, separating milk into whey and curds. This curd is eventually turned into cheese by several different ways and each method gives a different type of cheese--for example, mozzarella, cheddar, cottage cheese and paneer. Since lactose is broken down in cheese making, persons with lactose intolerance may be able to consume some cheese. This is particularly true for aged or ripened cheese where more lactose has been broken down and very little is present in the final product. On the other hand if you are allergic to milk, you need to avoid cheese totally.

4. Milk Allergy

If you are allergic to milk and milk products, you have to restrict this group completely out of your diet. When you eliminate a complete food group from your diet, you need to speak to either your doctor or a registered dietitian, so that they can guide you to alternate sources for calcium and vitamin D such as soy milk and soy milk products. In today’s market, you can find different flavor of soy milk and varied varieties of soy cheeses. All certified vegan soy cheeses are 100 percent casein-free and therefore allowed.

5. Milk Intolerance

With milk and milk products intolerance, you may want to try different dairy products and monitor your tolerance. Enjoy the ones you can tolerate in the amount you can tolerate. For example people with lactose intolerance can many times still tolerate yogurt or cheese (particularly aged or ripened cheese) in small amounts. Those with milk fat intolerance may only be able to handle low fat variety of yogurt or cheese. There are always alternatives available if you cannot tolerate a particular product.