Causes of lactose insufficiency
The composition of the breast milk among other useful components includes a special substance - milk sugar or lactose. Finding into the body, lactose splits on glucose and galactose, and contributes to this process a special enzyme - lactase. Pathological condition at which there is no normal absorption of maternal milk, it is provoked by a deficit of this enzyme. Among the main reasons for such a problem, the following can be called:
- Baby presence. The fact is that the production of lactase in the intestine of the fetus begins on the 24th week of pregnancy. In children who were born ahead of time, the formation process of the right amount of enzyme has not yet been completed, in connection with this, premature infants are poorly absorbed milk. Note that in some cases this problem disappears by itself, as soon as the child becomes a few weeks older.
- Sometimes lactose failure arises due to genetic predisposition. In this case, the child prescribe medication to adjust such a state.
- Provoke a decrease in the number of enzymes produced can also be infant with viral diseases. Dysbacteriosis, which occurs in the intestine as a result of the impact of pathogenic microorganisms, leads to a decrease in lactose generation.
Types of lactose insufficiency
Manifestations of lactose insufficiency of primary and secondary type are similar to each other. MPsovets allocated symptoms that accompany this condition:
- Chair disorder after drinking milk or dairy products. The shortage of the enzyme is fraught with the appearance of liquid feces, often with an acidic odor and foam.
- Gas formation, feeling Scotching, The feeling of drilling in the intestines is also symptoms of lactose failure.
- Spasms and grapple-shaped pain often accompany such a disease. A little baby becomes a capricious, constantly crying, pulls the legs to the belly.
- With lactose failure, the crumbs may appear frequent joins.
- Sometimes the chair of the child contains fragments of undigested food.
- Babies with such an enzyme disorder are poorly gaining weight.
At the very first suspicion of lactose failure, you should consult a doctor and carry out appropriate analyzes.
Diagnosis of the disease
Let's consider in more detail how you can reveal this kind of deviation:
- At first, all types of dairy products exclude from a human diet, and then some time watching its condition. If the work of the gastrointestinal tract has normalized, a small amount of milk is gradually introduced into food. With the resumption of symptoms, you can confirm the presence of lactose insufficiency in the patient.
- The second method of disease diagnosis - feces analysis. People with such a problem samples feces contain a significant amount of undigested carbohydrates. This method helps to identify the problem in breast babies that feed only with maternal milk.
- Hydrogen test - the third way of diagnosing lactose failure. If the air exhaled by the patient after the use of dairy products, contains a large amount of hydrogen - this indicates insufficient splitting of milk sugar in the body.
Treatment of lactose insufficiency
For each detached child, you need to select an individual way to eliminate such a problem. First of all, you should adjust the nutrition of such a patient. For kids who are artificial feeding, special brine or lowolate mixtures are selected.
A slightly other approach is applied in relation to infants who are breastfeeding. It is no secret that breast milk women are conventionally divided into «front» and «rear». The second option contains much less lactose, rather than the first. That is why babies should be fed «Rear» milk. This can be done in the following way:
- Before feeding a child, it is necessary to decline the first portion of milk.
- During one feeding should not change the chest.
- You need to try more often to apply baby at night.
- Do not take the chest from the crumbs until it is completely satisfied.
If the symptoms of lactose failure do not disappear, it is possible that the baby will have to temporarily translate to the artificial adapted mixture with low lactose content.
If the insufficiency of enzymes arose as a result of any disease of the digestive organs, it will be enough to solve its root cause.
Lactose insufficiency in adults
Reducing lactase production can be observed not only in young children, but also in adults. There are several reasons for this:
- Age changes that are reflected in the composition of the enzymes produced by the intestine.
- Congenital lactose intolerance. It should be noted that such cases are quite rare.
- Acquired lactose insufficiency resulting from the suffering. Very often, such a phenomenon becomes the result of inflammatory processes in the digestive organs. After eliminating the main problem, the functioning of the intestinal cells comes to normal, and the body's ability to split milk sugar is restored.
Diagnose lactose deficiency in adult enough. Man watching his condition, notes that after taking dairy products, his health is somewhat worsen: abdominal pain appears, the blown of the intestine, the stool disorder. After exclusion from the diet of milk, well-being comes to normal. If there are doubts about this, you can conduct certain research and put an accurate diagnosis.
Often, no specific treatment is required to eliminate such a problem, because an adult man is able to monitor its nutrition. When the described features appears, it should only limit the use of solid milk products, and all the necessary organisms of the substance can be obtained from another food. In particularly severe cases, lactose insufficiency is treated with drugs, prescribing probiotics and preparations with a lactase content.