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People avoiding dairy can try different options

A dairy organization leader says people that have trouble digesting dairy foods might want to try different options.

Karen Nielsen with the Sheep Dairying Association of Wisconsin says some people find sheep milk products easier to digest because sheep have different fatty acid chains that cows. “Sometimes, you hear people talking about in cow milk, the A1 and A2 protein. The A2 is easier for many people to digest than the A1. Well, the same kind of thing happens with the sheep milk. It’s easier to digest for a lot of people.”

Nielsen says some people think they have lactose intolerance, but it might instead be the proteins in the milk causing digestive problems.  She says if the consumer can tolerate an aged cheese but no other products, it might be a lactose intolerance problem. “Because as cheeses age, the lactose is consumed by the good bacteria in the cheese, and so an older cheese has very, very little lactose.”

Nielsen says when someone can’t eat aged cheese without discomfort, then it’s probably not lactose intolerance, but instead a problem digesting the proteins.