What should I do if I have diarrhea after drinking milk? Can I train my milk intake?

Friends often ask Huazi, what kind of food can both strengthen the body and be good quality and cheap? Huazi said that the "optimal solution" for food that meets these two requirements is milk, which is a nutritional product recognized by the world.

However, many friends complained to Huazi that they would have diarrhea after drinking milk. What should they do? Can they train their milk intake by drinking small amounts and multiple times? Huazi said that this situation is likely due to lactose intolerance. It is not recommended to train the milk intake, but other methods can be used to obtain the nutrients in milk.

1. Nutrient-rich milk

Milk is an almost perfect nutritional supplement. It not only contains a large amount of high-quality protein, carbohydrates, and fat, but also is rich in trace elements such as calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, as well as multiple vitamins such as A, D, and B.

According to nutrition surveys, the average daily calcium intake of Chinese people is around 400 mg, while the human body needs around 800 to 1000 mg of calcium per day.

Compared with other foods, milk contains a higher amount of calcium and has a good absorption rate. Drinking milk regularly can promote bone development in adolescents and prevent osteoporosis in the middle-aged and elderly. Therefore, there is a slogan "a glass of milk a day, a strong Chinese".

2. Many people are lactose intolerant

Although milk has high nutritional value, many people will experience symptoms such as bloating, diarrhea, and abdominal pain after drinking milk. This is because they are lactose intolerant.

Milk contains lactose, but many people lack the enzyme to digest lactose. After drinking milk, a large amount of lactose cannot be broken down and absorbed, and will directly reach the large intestine. The symbiotic bacteria in the human intestine will ferment the lactose, producing a large amount of gas and water, which will irritate the intestine and cause abdominal pain and diarrhea.

In areas with developed animal husbandry and abundant milk sources, there are fewer people with lactose intolerance. However, in areas where agriculture is the main industry and there are not many dairy products in the traditional diet, the proportion of lactose intolerance is very high.

3. It is not recommended to practice "milk volume"

In fact, lactose intolerance develops gradually as we grow up. After all, everyone grows up drinking breast milk when they are just born. However, after weaning, the amount and activity of lactase will decrease as the amount of dairy products in the diet decreases. When drinking milk again, lactose intolerance will occur.

Some people may ask, since drinking less milk has caused lactose intolerance, can drinking more milk help you drink more milk? Huazi does not recommend this, because the reduction and increase of lactase are both extremely slow processes. It is not realistic to endure abdominal pain and diarrhea to increase your milk intake.

Moreover, frequent diarrhea may also cause intestinal flora disorders, resulting in more serious and stubborn diarrhea or constipation, which is not worth the cost.

4. How to drink milk healthily

Some people are prone to diarrhea only when drinking milk on an empty stomach, but have no problem drinking milk after a meal. This is because milk enters the large intestine faster when the stomach is empty, causing intolerance and diarrhea. If you drink milk after a meal, it will mix with the food, increase the residence time in the small intestine, and allow the lactose in it to have a longer time to break down.

People who are lactose intolerant can choose dairy products such as yogurt and cheese. These dairy products use beneficial bacteria to ferment milk, converting the lactose into lactic acid, which not only increases the flavor but also avoids the effects of lactose, while retaining almost all the nutrients in the milk.

You can also choose lactose-free milk. Many milk brands have developed lactose-free milk. During the production process, the lactose in the milk is hydrolyzed into galactose and glucose, which can avoid lactose intolerance and increase the taste of the milk.

In summary, people with lactose intolerance do not need to deliberately exercise their "milk intake". They can choose dairy products such as yogurt and lactose-free milk to obtain the nutrients in milk. But it should be noted that if diarrhea still occurs after choosing lactose-free dairy products, it may be milk protein allergy, so stay away from dairy products. Calcium and protein can be supplemented through soy products, lean meat, fish, etc. I am pharmacist Huazi, welcome to follow me and share more health knowledge.