With lactose intolerance present in almost 70% of the world population, the food industry has churned out a lot of non-dairy products for consumers. These include designer milks, milk alternatives, non-dairy milks, creams, butter, cheese, margarines etc. Modern-day chemists are good at making new versions of milk devoid of the “abominable†lactose or dairy content. While people with milk allergy have milk-protein free alternatives, those with lactose intolerance have lactose free milk and non-dairy alternatives.
Designer Milks: These are stuff that are removed off about 90% of lactose and saturated fat. They are either made of whey protein or liquid whey with some amount of casein. Since casein does not affect the lactose intolerant, designer milk alternatives are not a problem with people who have lactase deficiency. Two such prominent brands of milk are Alternative Milk and NutriMil.
Alternative Milk is a product developed by food nutritionist Dr. David Holmes. The milk claims to have 90% whey and only 10% casein, which is much closer to the components in human milk. The milk also contains a lot of vitamins, minerals, calcium and other nutrients essential to the body. It has 90% of lactose removed and replaced with fruit sugar, fructose. Fructose is useful to the body in a number of ways. The remaining 10% lactose is useful in maintaining a healthy intestine. Most of the designer milks maintain at least 10% lactose in order to encourage the growth of microflora in the intestine. This microflora causes synthesis of vitamins such as riboflavin, folic acid, pyridoxine, biotin and absorption of other such minerals. NutriMil, developed by the U.S. Food Corporation, contains all whey protein with minuscule amounts of sodium casein. As a designer milk, it is free of saturated fat and cholesterol, which is replaced by canola oil. Like most designer milks, it comes fat-free, calcium-fortified with essential nutrients.
Many such designer milks come in original or various flavors, making it easy for people to choose the flavor of their choice. Those with original flavors can be substituted for milk in all recipes, while the ones that carry flavors make separate drinks by themselves.
Milk Alternatives: The market is full of alternatives to every other milk/dairy product in existence. There are alternatives to fresh liquid cow’s milk in the form of soy milk, almond milk, oat milk, rice milk, corn syrup and potato starch. These non-dairy milks come in various flavors and colors. Some are calcium-fortified, fat-free and casein-free. They offer a wide variety of choices too – fortified, powdered, refrigerated, whole, enriched and low-fat. Popular brands include Westsoy, Pacific, DariFree, RiceDream etc.
Coffee Creamers too come in low-fat, non-dairy alternatives. You can find frozen, refrigerated and powdered creamers in casein-free and fat-free versions too. Similarly, there are cream bases, non-dairy cream alternatives, frozen desserts and non-dairy ice creams. The market has plenty of soy-based, caseinated cheeses and milk-free margarines. Most of the margarines can be identified as milk-free if an ingredient called “parve†or “pareve†is added to them.
Of course, there are plenty of milk alternatives in the market. But the question is, how authentic are these products? Can you trust them completely? There is no answer to the question. Only research and verification can help you differentiate between the true and the false. Check thoroughly before you buy a dairy-free product. Remember, dairy-free does not always mean that the product is 100% lactose free.
Disclaimer: Lactose Intolerance Forum site is not responsible for the authenticity of products/brands mentioned in the above blog post.
