Lactose where is it found in living organisms

Eur J Clin Invest ; Kobayashi et al. Am J Clin Nutr ; Lukito et al. Vandenplas et al. Venema et al. International Dairy Journal ; Vulevic et al. Br J Nutr ; Ziegler et al. Kids and teens are less likely to have it, but many people eventually become lactose intolerant in adulthood. Some health care providers view lactose intolerance as a normal human condition and not a disease or serious health problem.

Lactose intolerance can cause a variety of symptoms. It all depends on how much dairy or milk-containing foods people consume and how little lactase their body makes. If you might have lactose intolerance, the docto will ask your symptoms and diet. They might test the breath for hydrogen levels before and after you drink lactose. Normally very little hydrogen gas is detectable in the breath. But undigested lactose in the colon breaks down and makes various gases, including hydrogen.

If you have a hydrogen breath test, you'll blow into a tube for a beginning sample. Then you'll swallow a drink with lactose in it, wait a while, and breathe into the tube again. You'll blow into the tube every half hour for 2 hours to measure hydrogen levels.

The levels should go up over time if you have lactose intolerance. Doctors also can find out if someone can digest lactose by testing for the presence of lactase with an endoscopy.

During this procedure, doctors view the inside of the intestines by inserting a long tube with a light and a tiny camera on the end into the mouth. A doctor can then take tissue samples and pictures of the inside of the gut.

The amount of lactase enzyme can be measured in one of these tissue samples. People can manage lactose intolerance by not drinking as much milk and eating fewer dairy products. Most can eat a small amount of dairy. But they need to eat it with other foods that don't contain lactose and not eat too much dairy at once. You may find that other dairy products, such as yogurt and cheeses, are easier to digest than milk.

Lactose-free milk is also a great way to get calcium in the diet without the problems. It can also help to keep a food diary to learn which foods you can or can't tolerate. Others maintain the production of this enzyme and thus remain capable of digesting lactose. Conversely, in the absence, or inadequacy, of lactase, lactose cannot be digested into simpler monosaccharides and as such, leads to lactose intolerance.

People who are lactose intolerant cannot digest or break down lactose. Lactose that is undigested in the small intestine moves to colon where the gut bacteria ferment it to lactic acid. As a result, methane and hydrogen gas are produced and cause discomfort, gut distention, and flatulence.

Diarrhea ensues as water is drawn in to the intestine by the osmotically active lactic acid. Lactose is produced naturally and is present in milk of mammals, including humans. It is collected from bovine to be used in preparing infant formulas.

As of now, there is no infant formula that can match breast milk. Breast milk remains the best provider of vitamins, minerals, hormones, and digestive enzymes.

It also has suitable amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Apart from milk, dietary lactose is also present in dairy products. Lactose is a vital dietary carbohydrate since it has a low glycemic index, which means it does not cause spikes in blood sugar level. Just as the other dietary disaccharides, lactose is an important energy source. Hydrolysis of lactose provides simple sugars galactose and glucose that the body readily absorbs and metabolizes.

Glucose, for instance, is essential since it is favored for use in energy metabolism. Lactose can be converted to lactic acid.

Microorganisms, such as Lactobacilli , can convert lactose to lactic acid, which is used in the food industry, e. Learn how the way genes control and determine every aspect of the body. This lesson uses lac operon as an example. Read More. The gastrointestinal system breaks down particles of ingested food into molecular forms by enzymes through digestion and then transferred to the internal environment by absorption.

Find out more about these processes carried out by the gastrointestinal system through this tutorial Genes are the blueprint of our bodies, a blueprint that creates a variety of proteins essential to any organism's survival.

Find out in this lesson the various factors that affect growth. Apart from vitamins, the human body also requires high energy sources such as carbohydrates and fats. If you want an overview of the different carbohydrates and fats the body needs, read this tutorial The body is comprised of different elements with hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen as the major four.

This tutorial will help you understand the chemical composition of the body. This will come in handy when considering the various interactions between cells and structures.