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yogurt (at least real yogurt with live cultures) should also not be a problem for people who are lactose intolerant. But keep in mind that because it is an intolerance, people have different levels of sensitivity and therefore some medium cheeses (like swiss) that might not have a lot of lactose will still affect some who are lactose intolerant because they are especially sensitive.

Take yogurt out of your list there - the active yogurt cultures (bacteria) eat the lactose and excrete it as lactic acid, so it's perfectly safe for those of us with lactose intolerance. Even high-quality frozen yogurt is OK, as long as the package specifies live and active cultures!

And of course there is always the goat or sheep option

Or the soy, rice, almond, cashew cheese option :-)

I think the first paragraph of the article is misleading. As is said later on, SOME cheeses are okay for people who are lactose-intolerant. Usually, the more aged the cheese, the less lactose in it. That being said, since there are different degrees of lactose intolerance, some people might still be unable to digest the lactose in some foods like fresh cheeses, some yogurts, etc. Also, in reply to Deuce... NO, there is not the goat or sheep option. ALL mammal produce lactose in their milk. Goat milk DOES have lactose in it.

Thanks for this post. I roll my eyes when a certain person I know turns down foods with CHEDDAR because of "lactose intolerance". Come on! just because cheese makes you gassy, doesn't mean you are lactose intolerant! Geesh!

The lactose is milk SUGAR. An allergy is an immune response to PROTEIN (ie. Whey, Casein found in milk). Therefore, it's impossible to be allergic to lactose. Dairy allergies and lactose inolerance often have similar symptoms but the trigger is totally different. Someone with lactose intolerance can handle lactose-free milk, which would still cause problems for those with a true allergy. The protein in sheep milk is different enough from that in cow's milk to often not cause problems for people with dairy allergies, however it does still contain lactose. Just wanted to clear that up, as the article is misleading.

I think it depends on the person and the level of sensitivity. I can handle parmesan as long as it is not in HUGE amounts (and I make sure to buy the longest-aged stuff I can find), but it's a steep curve as the cheese gets softer. Inevitably I rediscover this the hard way every few months as I did last night. Blergh.

re: slippermarshmallow, severe gassiness is often a major sign of lactose intolerance. It's not an allergic reaction, it's an inability of the body to digest, so as the undigested dairy gets backed up the results are the sorts of things that happen to your friend.

An allergy is an immune response to PROTEIN

Usually, but not necessarily. The marker of an allergic reaction is the immune response, typically triggered by a very large molecule, as a protein. Other things besides protein can trigger an immune response, though.

It's true that most people with milk allergies are allergic to casein (the most abundant protein in milk), but allergies can be to any kind of molecule, not just proteins. For example, many people are allergic to certain metals, which are not proteins. Also, many people who are allergic to dairy are also allergic to sheep or goat's milk since the proteins are very similar to those found in cow's milk.

Also, this post says that you might have a milk allergy, not a lactose allergy, so it's correct.

Thanks for the post - I didn't know this about cheese!

That would explain why I can eat tons of cheese with impunity but a glass of milk will have me doubled over in pain in minutes. I always wondered that.

Something like 99% of all Asians (except Indian Asians) are lactose intolerant. Most of the world is except Northern Europeans who cultivated dairy on a far larger basis than other parts of the world.

Yogurt is like my miracle cure for lactose intolerance. I've found that eating it a regular basis, like every other day or so, really, really helps me get along better with lactose in all forms. If I stop eating it for a few weeks, my intolerance gets much worse and I start having problems with even a little lactose.

I've also noticed that cheap cheese, ala a brick of cheddar from the groery store and the like are much worse for me than artisinal cheeses. I assume this is because the mass produced stuff isn't really made/aged the same way.

Some fact checking would be nice, before a whole bunch of us lactose intolerant folks get sick from eating cheese.

1. MOST of the world is in fact lactose intolerant. An allergy is something else entirely. We are not allergic to lactose, we simply can't digest it. The bacteria in our guts digest it instead causing gas and (possibly) toxins to be released.
2. Check your labels. Sugar content is listed on most cheeses and is a good indicator of lactose content. Cheddar, parmesan, etc. are usually safe, while fresh, young cheeses are less so.
3. Goat cheese has low (but not no) lactose.
4. Some people tolerate cheese and yogurt well, some of us are not so lucky. You just have to experiment to figure out the limits.

Another good test of lactose in milk products: The higher the fat content, the lower the lactose content. Heavy cream is actually easier to digest than non-fat milk, and butter has very little lactose.

Yay! Thanks for trying to inject some sanity into the lactose intolerance discussion. I would also encourage folks with lactose intolerance to continually test their ability to digest milk. These things change as we get older. Like many of us with Crohn's, I had pretty serious lactose intolerance (a slice of pizza would send me bolting for the bathroom within half an hour). Ten years later, I now enjoy every form of dairy. I started with hard cheeses, then moved on to yogurt, then ice cream and soft cheeses. Now I even eat milk-based soups. I'm much happier for it.
(Others will certainly disagree, but I didn't feel like dairy products made me "sick," I just had a strong reaction to them, and then moved on.)

Sometimes it's not the lactose or the protein in milk that causes an allergic reaction. If you're allergic to antibiotics and are not drinking organic milk, you could be having a reaction to the antibiotics that they use to treat the cows. If drinking milk causes a mucus problem, then you are probably having a histamine reaction to the dead bacteria in milk, try drinking raw milk.

Many mass-produced cheeses (even hard cheeses like cheddar), as well as many commercial brands of yogurt, have whey powder added after fermentation to make them thicker, firmer, and "fresher" tasting. Whey powder is almost all lactose, so that may be why some people (like myself) try to stay away from unknown cheeses. For example, real Parmesan is fine, but the stuff in the little cans I can only tolerate in very, very small amounts.

Also, cheeses that are made by curdling milk with an acid, such as paneer and cottage cheese, still contain quite a bit of lactose. Cottage cheese is almost as bad as whole milk for me, but a real cheddar is perfectly digestible. Please don't judge lactose intolerant people for their unwillingness to try new dairy foods-- really good information on the topic hasn't been available for long, misinformation was rampant in the past, and figuring out what was & wasn't digestible was VERY tricky then and is still somewhat tricky now! Not to mention the general unpleasantness of eating something indigestible!

Your comment is interesting, matchbookhymnal, and I hadn't heard that before about whey being added to cheeses. That would explain why I have such trouble with cheeses like cheddar, though I can drink Lactaid milk without any problems.

I hope people will be cautious about experimenting with these things; a reaction to lactose can be pretty unpleasant!

I'm lactose intolerant and have no problem eating MOST cheeses. However, extremely rich cheeses like gorgonzola still make me sick. I don't know if that's the lactose intolerance or something else, though.

I agree, I can eat yogurt and hard cheeses no problem. Cottage cheese is however the devil, it's worse than straight milk for me.

@matchbookhymnal - WORD about leaving us the hell alone with food suggestions. I'm so sick of people who have no idea how much even a little gassiness can hurt, let alone the worse problems, telling me to "try it" because I might be able to digest it.

How about no?

How about I'm not falling for that again?

How about you probably don't know what the hell you're talking about and just heard about this from your great aunt who has actual food allergies and/or neuroses?

Because it's not YOU in agony all day at work, and it's not you in the bathroom all evening, and it's not you worrying about waking up in the middle of the night, because someone thinks you should "try it, it's totally not dairy!"

I have my pills. I have my soy. I don't miss dairy.

As a funny aside, after that rant (I've been harassed twice today at work about dairy), my own mother, who cleaned up my projectile baby vomit before switching me to soy, who made special arrangements for me all through my school years to get juice instead of milk, who carries extra Lactaid in her purse for me, MY OWN MOTHER "forgets" I'm lactose intolerant. There are many a time I have to pause and glare at her until she laughs and corrects herself after suggesting something overly dairy. Come on, lady, it's been 33 years.....