Lactose-Free Cheese

With lactose intolerance becoming more and more prevalent in Americans, dairy products free from lactose - the enzyme prevalent in milk that causes the digestive problems associated with the intolerance - are becoming a commoner sight on the shelves of whole food stores and even multinational supermarkets. Lactose-free cheese is one of those products.

Lactose-free cheese and the foods that contain it, such as lactose-free pizzas, cheesecakes, sandwiches, or lasagnes, are typically brand products. In Great Britain, for example, the Lactofree company specializes in lactose-free products, whereas LactAid is a popular American alternative. These companies usually make their products using cows' milk rather than plant milk, which means that most of their products are not suitable for vegans.

Health Benefits

The great thing about lactose-free cheese is that aside from the removal of the lactose enzyme, its health benefits remain identical to that of normal cheese. Therefore, there is no reason for a lactose intolerant individual to not enjoy cheese's nutritional benefits like everybody else. Let's take a look at some of those benefits now.

1.) Like all dairy products, cheese is high in calcium. Calcium is an absolutely essential nutrient for healthy bones and teeth, and the regular consumption of high-calcium foods can guard us against osteoporosis and other bone conditions. Lactose-free cheese is especially good for teeth, since lactose is a sugar that harms them.

2.) Cheese is high in B vitamins such as riboflavin and thiamine, which aid the absorption and supply of calcium. Since the two nutrients work in tandem together, foods high in both calcium and vitamin B are especially good for bones and teeth. For this reason, high quality (and preferably organic) cheese is an excellent food for growing children.

3.) Because of its high fat and protein content, cheese is a great food for gaining weight (for example, if you're a weightlifter looking to build more fat to convert into muscle). Of course, this also means that cheese is a food to avoid, or consume sparingly, if you're attempting to lose weight.

4.) An accurate nutritional profile of cheese is hard to assemble, because there are so many factors to consider (for instance, the age of the cheese, the milk used to make it, whether any additional ingredients were added to it, etc.). That said, animal milk-based cheese, lactose-free or otherwise, consistently contains the following nutrient in high amounts: zinc, phosphorous, vitamin A, and folic acid. Cheese also contains the substances Sphingolipids and Conjugated Linoleic Acid, which are proven to prevent cancer.

Purchasing Information

Unlike lactose-free milk, which has blossomed in popularity over the last ten years, specialist products made using it (such as cheese) are not as difficult to find, at least in the more popular chains. Therefore, we recommended that you locate some whole food stores near you. Such stores are convenient because even if they don't sell lactose-free cheese, you can request it for sale. 

If you don't have any stores near you, or prefer not to patronize them, then your second bet is the Internet. Typing 'buy lactose-free cheese' into a search engine will reveal a number of specialist online stores that cater to all tastes, but bear in mind that you usually have to pay for postage as well as the product itself.

Michael Ravensthorpe is a writer and researcher of nutrition from the United Kingdom. He is the creator of the website, http://spiritfoods.net, which contains interesting and useful information about the world's healthiest foods, from Indian gooseberries to royal jelly.

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