| All mammals are exposed to lactose during breast-feeding but most lose the ability to produce lactase (the enzyme, lactase-phlorizin hydrolase) after weaning. In fact, lactose intolerance, rather than being a disease, is the normal state for most of humanity. Only the majority of people with European ancestry have the peculiar habit of continuing to drink milk into adulthood and possess the physiological ability to digest it.
There is a view that because lactose intolerance is clinically so similar to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), there is little point distinguishing between the two. |