Diagnosis
Common symptoms: Bloating, flatulence, and abd. pain. Children may have diarrhea as well and adolescents may have nausea/vomiting.
Cause: Caused by lactose malabsorption. Patients have low levels of lactase in the duodenum and so cannot digest the lactose-containing foods.
A presumptive diagnosis can be made from a history of symptoms with consumption of lactose foods and resolution after 5-7 days of avoiding lactose-containing foods.
Get Lactose Hydrogen Breath Test in patients whose diagnosis is not clear but the diagnosis is suspected.
Treatment
-Limit of dietary lactose. Complete elimination of dietary lactose is not required and that restriction. The goal is to limit it enough for symptoms to resolve.
When diet is modified to avoid milk products, give a calcium supplement to prevent osteoporosis or osteopenia.
Background
– Lactose Intolerance (LI) usually occurs in patients > 5 years of age. If the patient is <5 years, suspect another mucosal disease.