Best lacto free milk?

[Ian67]

Not to keen on the rice milks.. Is Arla lacto free ok..

Is it 100% lacto free? Anyone have any issues with it?

[Ian67]

Ps..

Can't do soy..

And also any butter I can try?

[Hidden]

You can buy lactase and treat your own milk and cream. This allows you to start with whatever type of milk you want ( I use jersey). I even started experimenting to see if I could make mozzarella a while ago (then moved house and didn't pursue).

Long matured artisanal cheeses made in the traditional way can also end up with no discernable levels of lactose, for example aged cheddar from farmhousecheesemakers.com/. Useful article galactosaemia.org/index.php...

I don't much like the lactose free milk products, I think they still give me symptoms (though minor) and have no flavour. You could check blissglutenfree.blogspot.co... for more details.

[Penel in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for this. I didn't realise you could make your own lactose free products. I am not as sensitve as others when it comes to lactose but I think I will have a go with the milk.

[Ian67 in reply to Hidden]

How do you do your own?

[Irene Administrator]

The Pure spreads are dairy free and one is soya free. There is also a lactose and soya free milk made from coconut called Kara which you can get from health food shops .

[meanioni in reply to Irene]

Kara coconut milk is lovely but my doc told me off after I drank it daily as coconut milk apparently contains lots of cholesterol (and my blood tests showed a big increases in cholesterol levels).

So watch out if you have cholesterol probs.

[Hidden in reply to meanioni]

I thought the latest evidence was that coconut milk was good for you not bad if you had high cholesterol - caught a bit of an item on a food programme on the radio and haven't looked it up

[meanioni in reply to Hidden]

I thought that too but doc certainly gave me a wigging and my cholesterol results which are normally good had gone up. Will look into it....

[Penel]

I also have to avoid lactose. I can eat plain yoghurt and I am ok with butter and like to buy the organic ones. It may be a question of trying a few out. This is from Wikipedia ..."Butter. The butter-making process separates the majority of milk's water components from the fat components. Lactose, being a water soluble molecule, will largely be removed, but will still be present in small quantities in the butter unless it is also fermented to produce cultured butter. Clarified butter, however, has extremely low concentrations of lactose and is safe for most LI patients."

[Penel]

Forgot to say that I find the lactose free milk is OK.

[sassyl]

I use Arla and am fine with it. Also have the butter, (woo-hoo, butter! It's new, I'm still in that honeymoon phase) and the cheese, which is a bit rubbery but fills a cheese craving. Pure is good too and I cook with Stork. Alpro yoghurts are good too, nice flavours. Arla do a single cream but I haven't seen it in the supermarket lately.

I also eat parmesan as it has a really low lactose level. As long as I don't overdo the parmesan (maybe once or twice a week) then I'm ok with that. I don't think the body completely stops producing lactase, so I think it's about finding how much you can tolerate.

I LOVE cheddar but it doesn't love me back. Even small amounts can wipe me out for a day or two. Also, beware of cheeses with moulds as these are traditionally started with bread mould.

I found Alpro Hazelnut milk in the supermarket the other day, and very nice it was too!

[Hidden]

Hi Sassy, do try the artisan aged cheese I mentioned. I cant eat standard cheddar but had quite large portions of these during my tests without problems. Mature traditional Gruyere seems to cause me less trouble than Parmesan. Also, I now carry lactose pills with me so that if I eat some milk products at a restaurant (if that is the only thing that has no gluten) I can take a couple and that definitely helps.

[Hidden]

So is milk a problem for (some) coeliacs? I use soya on cereals and milk in hot drinks. Habit more than anything.

[meanioni in reply to Hidden]

There was a topic on this recently and a number have issues.

So many coeliacs when coming off gluten exhibit lactose problems caused by damaged villi (the area of the gut that produces lactase, the enzyme that helps you digest milk is one of the areas first damaged by the autoimmune reaction). Many improve and lactose problems disappear as the villi recover.

Some have more permanent damage and lactose problems continue.

However, in my experience I find many coeliacs have issues with milk - either intolerances or allergies.

A Swedish study discovered that introducing milk into a coeliac's gut gave "a gluten like reaction" in 50% of coeliacs that they tested. It was a small sample and research in this area is thin on the ground, but I have a hunch that it is more widespread than the mainstream medical community realise.

If you have tried going gluten and dairy free you will know how complex it is and how many gluten free foods contain milk.

I recently wrote to the MD of Genius to draw their attention to the research and recommending they use non-dairy alternatives. They have not replied.....

[sassyl]

Thanks Lois,

My friend owns the Parkham dairy - I'll ask her for a sample and if she knows what happens to the lactose in her cheese. Never thought of asking her before.

I've had the lactase tablets before, I tend to take them on holiday but I don't eat out at all if I can help it. I react to fructose too, so trying to eat out without gluten, dairy or fructose is a nightmare!

[Hidden in reply to sassyl]

Lucky you! there is an explanation here foodsmatter.com/allergy_int...

I found that one of their cheeses caused me no problem at all even though I ate a lot (I didn't have anything important to do that week so just used myself as a test subject!). Pity I forgot to note which one it was. and they are delicious.

Fructose too! that must be tough. I am extremely gluten sensitive so run a gf house, so yes, eating out is difficult even with lactase and glutenzyme and wipes and obsession and being prepared to eat food from my handbag while others tuck into a full meal.