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Comment by garyvee_ | Hacker News Reader

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As a lactard, I can attest—I tried this and didn’t have any indigestion problems. Maybe lactose intolerance is a hoax.

It's not a hoax at all. The ability to digest lactose is due to a mutation in humans that began in Europe thousands of years ago. It's about as far from a hoax as you can get: You either produce the lactase enzyme (required to break down lactose) or you don't.

1. https://www.nature.com/news/archaeology-the-milk-revolution-... 2. https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/lactose-intolerance#source...

I think alot of it is generalized without enough scientific analysis/limited by current technology.

"Lactose intolerance" could be many different reactions that could be not lactose specifically with many individuals. Could be a byproduct commonly found with lactose(and maybe the a2 milk process removes that)

(similar to how recent, debated, studies for gluten intolerance may not be specifically gluten for many people, could be a similar by product/chemical/reaction to something commonly produced with gluten).

> "Lactose intolerance" could be many different reactions

It's not, it's pretty well understood.

OTOH, lots of allergies to milk proteins are misidentified by sufferers of them as lactose intolerance, as they have vaguely similar superficial symptoms and are both negated by avoiding milk.

Exactly. But this is poorly understood by the general population and who is going to understand or know if a particular milk protein is present?

It's going to be heavily advertised if it hasn't started already, and then everyone will be lactose intollerant. Because someone that feels better using a more expensive product will keep buying the more expensive product as long as they feel better from it.

Or maybe it's not a hoax and you are misdiagnosed. You might have cow milk protein allergy/intolerance, which is an allergic reaction that happens only in the digestive tract.

Try eating some dried/cured meat that has lactose added as a conservative. No issues? Not lactose intolerant.

Try taking some medicine that has lactose added as a binding agent. No issues? Not lactose intolerant.

Try eating any cured cheese such as Cheddar or Edam (0.0 g lactose, but check the carbs/sugars label to be sure). Issues? Not lactose intolerant.

Try drinking normal milk and then the same thing with exogenous lactase (e.g. Lactaid). Issues without lactase, but no issues with it? Lactose intolerant. Issues with both or no issues with any? Not lactose intolerant.

It's fairly easy to self-diagnose as long as you know how the intolerance works (an enzyme is missing in your digestive tract) and the lactose content of things.

You could get some refined lactose and mix it in water to see.

Use lots and you'll for sure know if you are lactase deficient.

As another linked article attests, this milk doesn’t do anything in regards to lactose. It instead is a milk that uses a less common (in the Western World) A2 type of Casein Protein instead of A1 type. There are various health claims about A2 and A1 that have nothing to do with lactose intolerance. Lactose is a sugar in milk, and casein the main protein component.

Exactly. So if people claim that they are "lactose intolerant" and can drink A2 with no bad effect, they are not making much sense.

It makes sense: they assumed they were lactose intolerant because they had digestive problems with milk; but then found out the problem is something else.

That "something else" may be the A1 protein but they don't want to make assumptions too quickly this time.

> Maybe lactose intolerance is a hoax.

It's clearly not, and the mechanism is well understood; however, lots of people who think they are lactose intolerant are mis-(and usually self-)diagnosed, and really have allergies to one or more proteins found in milk (and this has also been widely known for a long time), which is completely different than lactose intolerance.

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