One description of Lactose Intolerance is, “The inability to fully digest sugar (lactose) in dairy products.” One US government website reports, “Approximately 65 percent of the human population has a reduced ability to digest lactose after infancy..”

Some of the symptoms are diarrhea, gas and bloating after consuming dairy products. It’s usually harmless, but its symptoms can be uncomfortable. Most often medical experts explain that the condition is the result of a deficiency of lactase — an enzyme produced in our small intestines. The next logical question, which is rarely asked is, what CAUSES a deficiency of lactase (aside from the physical loss of the small intestine)?

Human milk – the most perfect milk for new humans – contains more lactose than cow milk, yet newborns seem to have sufficient lactase to digest their mother’s milk. So what happens to dampen our ability to make “enough” of the enzyme later in life?

If you ask these questions, you’ll probably get a shoulder shrug or, if the person is trying hard to help, some sort of answer – but a weak one. This is not unique to the questions about lactose intolerance and lactase. Ask for the CAUSE of practically any condition and you’re likely to receive equally weak answers. Anxiety is said to be caused by chemical imbalance in the brain – but what causes the chemical imbalance? Arthritis is caused by an inflamed joint – but what inflames the joint? Instead of merely accepting non-specific reasoning, perhaps we ought to keep asking for causes until we learn something so valuable that we can work on removing the true underlying causes instead of just covering symptoms with drugs that have side effects of their own.

Back to lactose intolerance. Except in a small number of situations, lactase just seems to randomly decline, leaving the human body susceptible to the ravages of lactose. But, what if it isn’t all about lactase? What if there are additional causes that prevent us from consuming lactose? What if the dairy products themselves cause discomfort – in addition to the lactose?

Bovine (cow) milk contains approximately 87% water and 13% solids (fat,casein, whey, lactose, minerals). The casein chains are vital to this investigation. In the vast majority of bovine milk, the casein molecule is broken by digestion into two smaller amino acid chains, one of which is called, BCM7 (Beta-CasoMorphin 7), which exhibits opioid properties).This milk is referred to as A1 milk, which is the vast majority of milk consumed in the world.

A variant is called A2 milk. Instead of the chain breaking as in A1, this chain doesn’t break and doesn’t make BCM7. Whereas A1 milk delivers more irritating BCM7 peptide, A2 doesn’t. It should also be noted that milk protein from humans, sheep, and goats is more similar to the A2 cow’s milk. They don’t break down into irritating sub-chains in our gut.

What if the genetically different A1 milk contributes to the symptoms we associate with lactose intolerance? Recent research strongly suggests A2 milk is less a problem than the common A1 milk. Recently, a milk sourced only from A2 cows has become available in the United States. It’s called A2 MILK and there is nothing on the package claiming it’s better than common milk, the A1 version.

When lactase supplements seem to have lost their effectiveness and you still want milk products, think about checking out A2 Milk. I understand it is available from a single company and that you can buy it at Mejier stores.

As already stated, lactose intolerance is “usually harmless, but its symptoms can be uncomfortable”. If A2 milk helps avoid the gut symptoms, why try it? What’s the worse that could happen? Another bout of “you know what”. On the other hand, you may find you can again enjoy dairy products – from cows.