If you're lactose intolerant, you experience intestinal upset and cramping when you consume lactose-containing foods -- lactose is the sugar in milk and milk products. While you might have heard that a high-protein diet can treat your lactose intolerance or alleviate your symptoms, there's no truth to this rumor.
Lactose Intolerance
Lactose intolerance results from underproduction of the lactase enzyme, which is what your small intestine normally uses to digest lactose, according to Drs. Reginald Garrett and Charles Grisham in their book "Biochemistry." Some people are born lactose intolerant, but more commonly it develops naturally as you age. You can also become lactose intolerant as the result of illness. Symptoms include diarrhea, bloating, cramping and general gastrointestinal distress that lasts for several hours after you consume milk or other dairy products.
High-protein Diets
Because lactose intolerance is caused by an enzyme deficiency and because enzymes are proteins, some people incorrectly assume that lactose intolerance is the result of protein deficiency and that it can be treated with a high-protein diet. There's no scientific evidence to support this. While you do need protein in your diet to make proteins -- including enzymes -- you can't force your body to produce more protein or more enzymes by eating more protein.
Treatments
You can't actually treat lactose intolerance -- with a high-protein diet or through any other means -- according to MayoClinic.com. If you were born lactose intolerant or have developed the intolerance as you have aged, there's nothing you can do to reverse it. If you're lactose intolerant after an illness -- or if you've developed the intolerance in response to a medication -- you may regain your ability to digest lactose with time.
Alternatives
Rather than trying to treat your lactose intolerance with a high-protein diet, try lactose-free dairy products. These are made with milk that has been heated together with lactase enzyme, which digests the lactose into the smaller sugars glucose and galactose. It won't cause you symptoms. You can also take supplemental lactase enzyme when you want to consume dairy. The enzyme -- available over-the-counter -- temporarily provides you with a lactase supply.
References
- "Biochemistry"; Reginald Garrett, Ph.D. and Charles Grisham, Ph.D.; 2007
- MayoClinic.com: Lactose Intolerance
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