Lactose is a sugar or disaccharide that is present in all the milk of mammals: cows, goats, sheep, and humans, and can also be found in many prepared foods. Lactose called milk sugar (C12, H22, O11) composed of glucose and galactose. It is a carbohydrate found in the milk of mammals and provides energy for babies during the first months of life. It consists of glucose and galactose, which are assimilated separately in the body thanks to an enzyme called lactase that is located in the intestine.
The human body is organically prepared to absorb lactose correctly. For this it has an enzyme called lactase; but if this is absent, due to intestinal problems (produced by the small intestine), humans suffer what is called lactose intolerance, which can be temporary, if the problem is amenable to treatment and cure; or irreversible if the pathology is genetic.
The latter is common in adulthood, and many scientists argue that milk should not be consumed after weaning, and humans, like other animals, are not prepared to drink milk from species other than their own. In babies it is difficult if they do not have pathology or are not premature to have this intolerance to breast milk.
As a suitable food, milk is a whitish-toned secretion that is a secretion of the mammary glands present in mammals, precisely this being its defining capacity, and having the main functionality of the nutrition of children or young people until they can digest other type of food.
It also allows the protection of the gastrointestinal tract, being one of the first immunological defenses against inflammatory, toxic and pathogenic agents that occur in the different energy production processes, especially with regard to the metabolization of insulin and glucose, in addition to prepare against future foods that will be digested.
Lactose intolerance is a food intolerance to the sugar in milk. If the small intestine stops producing the enzyme that converts lactose (lactase) or produces it in small amounts, it will not be able to digest lactose or only partially. Symptoms that indicate lactase deficiency are generally stomach pain, diarrhea, and flatulence. When the consumption of milk or dairy products causes this type of discomfort, we speak of lactose intolerance.
