Today, the fashion for giving up lactose and gluten has reached incredible proportions – supermarket shelves are full of products labeled “lactose free” and “gluten free”, and almost all cafes have the option to order your favorite dish without these ingredients. Together with an expert, we figure out why giving up lactose and gluten is not a panacea, and how it can harm the body.
Any drastic change in the diet, including an unjustified refusal from certain foods or enzymes, can affect your general well-being and the functioning of the digestive tract, intestines, and even the condition of the skin. Together with nutritionist Anna Ivashkevich, we figure out why it is customary to give up lactose and gluten, and how this decision can harm the body.
This enzyme is composed of glucose and galactose, in other words, lactose is a sugar found in milk. People who are forced to give up lactose suffer from dairy intolerance and switch to plant-based milk. However, adherents of fashionable food systems often confuse two concepts – allergy to milk protein and intolerance to dairy products.
With allergies, not only urticaria, Quincke’s edema, but also anaphylactic shock can begin – the reaction to the product occurs instantly. In this case, you should refuse to use any dairy products containing milk protein. However, allergies can be peculiar, and in one person it will manifest itself after consuming any dairy product, and in another only after cow’s milk, there will be no reaction to other types of reactions.
If you have an intolerance, then after a glass of milk bloating, heaviness in the abdomen, gas and diarrhea may appear. The reaction may not begin immediately, but after a certain time, sometimes after a day. Symptoms include headache, drowsiness, weakness in the body. In this case, it is worth replacing cow’s milk with lactose-free or, for example, kefir.
Genetic tests or special allergy tests with subsequent consultation with an allergist, gastroenterologist or allergist-immunologist will help to identify whether you are allergic or intolerant to certain foods.
It is not worth removing dairy products from your diet just because of your personal concerns – if you are very worried, then you should go and get tested. Dairy products can do more harm than good, however, in most cases, this is not the case. Milk contains calcium, which is necessary for us, namely bioavailable. It is absorbed in the intestines in the presence of vitamin D. But when either calcium or vitamin D is absent, the risk of osteoporosis increases – if, without prescriptions or doctor’s recommendations, you yourself removed lactose from your diet, then there may be a lack of calcium in the body. As a result, hair and nails are brittle, and bones are at greater risk of fractures.
Of course, you can replace the missing calcium from other foods, such as nuts or green vegetables. But it is worth remembering that 100 grams of hard cheese, for example, contains 750 to 1300 mg of calcium – in order to get the same amount of calcium from other foods, you will need to eat either 1 kilogram of broccoli or 15 kilograms of spinach, which will do very problematic.
Your diet should be balanced and contain all the necessary trace elements, vitamins and nutrients. Self-change in your usual diet can be detrimental to your body, and therefore you should definitely consult with a specialist if you want to remove certain foods from your diet.
Here are some of the most popular gluten myths:
A gluten-free diet can help you lose weight
Logical chain: gluten is found in bread, pasta, baked goods, therefore, if you refuse these products, the diet will be “healthy” and the weight will decrease. But, unfortunately, things are not so simple. By removing pasta and whole grain bread from your diet without a doctor’s recommendation, you can deprive your body of essential nutrients, namely: folic acid, iron, calcium, potassium
It is better to remove fast food, quick breakfasts, cereals, instant cereals, foods with trans fats, added sugar from the diet – this step will really help to make your diet balanced and healthy and will contribute to weight loss.
The body is unable to digest gluten
So far, there is not a single study that would confirm this fact. However, there are a number of studies that confirm that a balanced diet, including the presence of gluten, improves your health and reduces the risk of developing age-related diseases.