Aversion to milk products exists only in mind
May 9th, 2011 - 5:20 pm ICT by IANSLondon, May 9 (IANS) Aversion to milk products may have no real basis but exists only in the mind. Such people may be labouring under stress, anxiety or depression.
The discovery has important bearing on health, because many who believe they are lactose intolerant leave out dairy products from their diet.
This could leave them severely short of calcium, raising the odds of brittle bones and falls and fracture in old age.
The study is the latest to question whether many of the millions of people who claim to have food intolerance are actually fussy eaters, the Daily Mail reports.
Previous research concluded that nine in 10 Britons who believed they had a food allergy or intolerance were actually perfectly healthy.
Twenty percent of men and women, some 10 million British adults, claim to be unable to eat foods from milk to mustard, but fewer than two percent actually have a problem.
Guido Basilico, of the University of Milan, tested more than 100 people who had stomach ache, bloating and diarrhoea and believed they were lactose intolerant, to see if they really did have problems breaking down the sugar and absorbing it into their blood.
He also asked them about their mental and physical health, including whether they were depressed or anxious or suffered from general aches and pains.
This revealed their stomach troubles to have little to do with digestion of lactose and more to do with their mental state.
These findings were presented at the Digestive Disease Week conference in the US Sunday.
- Gandhi-preferred goat milk good for heart, health - May 19, 2011
- Lactose intolerance misunderstood, say experts - Feb 26, 2010
- Bread may actually be good for you - Jan 27, 2011
- Thousands of kids misdiagnosed with food allergies - Aug 09, 2010
- Eat light, healthy food to stay cool this summer: Doctors - May 17, 2012
- I am not anorexic: Miley Cyrus - Apr 09, 2012
- Babies can be given solid food earlier than six months - Jan 14, 2011
- Anti-depressants doing more harm than good: Study - Apr 25, 2012
- Food allergies more likely to afflict autumn babies - Oct 20, 2010
- Consumption Of Raw Milk Worth The Risks-Say Advocates - Jul 20, 2010
- 'Good bacteria' in yogurt may not be as healthy as you think! - Dec 27, 2010
- 70 students suffer from food poisoning in China - Jun 25, 2010
- Vitamin E pill seems to ease PMS pain - Jan 17, 2011
- Will swallowed gum stay in your stomach? - Jan 26, 2012
- Peppermint relieves irritable bowel disorder - Apr 20, 2011
Tags: aversion, basilico, bloating, british adults, britons, brittle bones, daily mail, diarrhoea, digestive disease week, food allergy, food intolerance, fussy eaters, milk products, physical health, previous research, stomach ache, stomach troubles, stress anxiety, twenty percent, university of milan