Crohn's Disease & Lactose Intolerance - Mythbuster
The Myth - “Crohn’s Disease is just lactose intolerance. Cutting out dairy helps.”
The Truth - Crohn’s Disease and lactose intolerance are two very different things, let just clarify:
Crohns Disease is an autoimmune inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.
Lactose intolerance is a common digestive problem caused by the inability to digest lactose, the main carbohydrate in dairy products. People with lactose intolerance don't make enough of the enzyme lactase, which is needed to digest lactose so when they eat lactose containing foods they experience symptoms.
What’s interesting is that lactose intolerance is more common in people with Crohn’s Disease of the small intestine. This makes sense because damage to the small intestinal lining means it won’t be able to produce the enzyme lactase effectively to break down the lactose.
One study found the prevalence of lactose intolerance changed depending on the location of Crohn’s - proximal small bowel (100%), terminal ileum (68%), terminal ileum/colon (54%), and colon (43%).
On the other hand, people with ulcerative colitis seem to have the same chance of being lactose intolerance as the general population.
A person’s ancestry and genetics plays a role in their risk of developing lactose intolerance; Asians and Native Americans have the highest prevalence of lactose intolerance at more than 90%. There is around a 60-70% prevalence of lactose intolerance in American blacks, Arabs, Jews, Hispanics, and South Europeans (Italians and Greeks), and the prevalence is lowest in people with Northern and Western European and Americans ancestry (10-15%).
If you have lactose intolerance then cutting out lactose does help stop symptoms associated with this. If you have Crohn’s and lactose intolerance than cutting out lactose will help stop symptoms associated with the lactose intolerance but it will only be one piece of the puzzle as Crohn’s is much more complex than lactose intolerance.
I have written a free e-book to help you find a way forward for your everyday life with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Whether you are right at the beginning of your journey with IBD or have been living with your condition for years and feel like you have tried almost everything, there are things you can do everyday, beyond the medication you are taking, to help you take back control.
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We are all wonderfully unique and what works for one person may not work for another so please seek help and advice before changing your diet to work out the right way forward for you.