There is also a line of Lactaid dairy products including milk, ice cream and processed cheese slices that contains the helpful enzyme. If you are concerned about which products might contain lactose, read the label and avoid foods that contain whey, dry milk solids, milk by-products, nonfat dry milk powder and curds. Products that list any of these as ingredients contain some amount of lactose. Some ethnic and racial populations are more widely affected than others as many as 75 percent of all African-Americans and Native Americans, and 90 percent of Asian Americans are lactose intolerant. The condition is least common among people of northern European descent.
Lactose intolerance is different than a milk allergy.
The symptoms of an allergic reaction to milk can be more serious, including difficulty breathing, rashes, hives or severe stomach pain. Fortunately, very few people are allergic to the proteins in dairy. In response to a decline in milk sales in the 1970s and 1980s, the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board began an advertising campaign in 1993 that re-introduced the American public to milk in a funny, sexy new spin. Some people see the revitalization of milk s image as the worst possible development for the health of Americans. A sip of milk contains hundreds of different substances, each one having the potential to exert a powerful biological effect when taken independently of the others.