Therapy for lactose intolerance
Lactose intolerance is manifested by abdominal cramping, bloating, diarrhoea, and flatulence an hour to a few hours after consuming milk. In cases of lactose intolerance where it is uncertain whether abdominal symptoms are due to lactose allergy, diabetes, Crohn’s disease, gastric infections, or allergies to other macro- or micronutrients in food, it is prudent to obtain a laboratory diagnosis because the clinical picture cannot differentiate between these conditions.
There are two categories of laboratory tests for lactose intolerance diagnosis.
A “hydrogen breath test” is a noninvasive, swift test. The physician first instructs you to consume a lactose drink. After that, the quantity of hydrogen in the exhaled air is periodically measured. Lactose is fermented by the microflora of the intestines into hydrogen at a higher than normal level.
