Feta cheese is made from cow's milk and does contain lactose. Because every individual has a different tolerance of lactose, you may or may not be able to eat feta cheese without experiencing symptoms. Lactose intolerance is a common condition that can cause unpleasant digestive symptoms, such as bloating and diarrhea. If you've been diagnosed with lactose intolerance, talk with your doctor before ingesting feta cheese or any other dairy products.
Lactose Intolerance
Lactose intolerance is the inability to properly digest lactose. Lactose is a complex sugar found diary products. Tto break down the lactose, the body needs to produce lactase, a digestive enzyme. If your body doesn't produce enough lactase, lactose cannot be broken down into glucose and galactose. Lactose in its original state cannot be absorbed by the body and remains in the gut until bacteria can digest it. This leads to inflammation and irritation in the intestines.
Feta Cheese
Some cheeses contain less lactose than other dairy products because of the enzymes used to create the cheese. Feta contains a medium amount of lactose, meaning it may or may not affect you depending on the severity of your intolerance. Symptoms may also be dependent on how much feta cheese you eat in one sitting. The more you eat, the more lactose you're ingesting, which will require the body to produce more lactase. If you're body doesn't produce enough lactase, you will develop symptoms of intolerance.
Elimination Diet
An effective way to discover how much feta cheese you can eat without developing symptoms is to implement an elimination diet. Talk with your doctor before you change your diet for any reason. Completely remove all lactose-containing foods from your diet for two weeks. Introduce a small amount of feta, such as half a teaspoon, on the first day after the two weeks. Increase the amount you consume in one sitting by a half teaspoon you develop symptoms. This will help you gauge how much lactose you can tolerate when you eat feta.
Considerations
If you experience lactose intolerance symptoms after eating feta, you can still enjoy the cheese by taking a lactase supplement. Lactase supplements are available at any pharmacy in pill or liquid form. Taking the supplement with the first bite of feta cheese will provide your digestive system with the needed enzyme to effectively digest the cheese.
