Need sustainable option for lactose intolerance

[lwheelr]

So, the down side to commercial "kefir" stuff, which is actually just yogurt.

I bought one bottle of it. Managed to keep it going for about 5 days on top of the fridge, adding fresh warm goat milk every morning. After about 5 days, the buttermilk flavor was stronger, and the lactose compensating effect was much less - it took more to be able to tolerate milk without lactase enzyme.

So I bought another bottle. It DIDN'T work! Same brand, but it just didn't work. I suspect that the company that makes it may have had problems with the consistency of their cultures, and that the bottle I bought second didn't have enough of the right ones to handle the lactose.

So the result is, that while I did find something that COULD work (and did), I can't risk USING it. Because if the bacterial content can vary that much from batch to batch, then I can't rely on it, because if I drink milk without something to compensate for the lactose, I may not realize that it didn't work until half an hour or more later (when I get a bellyache), and then it is too late to take the lactase, and it causes damage all through my intestines, and gives me problems for several days.

So I'm back to having to buy lactose for now.

I think real Kefir would work, because it has other components besides just bacteria to break down the lactose.

 

[miss_thenorth]

What you need are kefir grains. Kefir is soooo different from yogurt.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

So, the down side to commercial "kefir" stuff, which is actually just yogurt.

I bought one bottle of it. Managed to keep it going for about 5 days on top of the fridge, adding fresh warm goat milk every morning. After about 5 days, the buttermilk flavor was stronger, and the lactose compensating effect was much less - it took more to be able to tolerate milk without lactase enzyme.

So I bought another bottle. It DIDN'T work! Same brand, but it just didn't work. I suspect that the company that makes it may have had problems with the consistency of their cultures, and that the bottle I bought second didn't have enough of the right ones to handle the lactose.

So the result is, that while I did find something that COULD work (and did), I can't risk USING it. Because if the bacterial content can vary that much from batch to batch, then I can't rely on it, because if I drink milk without something to compensate for the lactose, I may not realize that it didn't work until half an hour or more later (when I get a bellyache), and then it is too late to take the lactase, and it causes damage all through my intestines, and gives me problems for several days.

So I'm back to having to buy lactose for now.

I think real Kefir would work, because it has other components besides just bacteria to break down the lactose.

Kefir cannot be made from Kefir.
You have to have the grains.
Sides, the commercial stuff has only 7 probiotics in it, not the 30 that grains will give you

 

[lwheelr]

Yes, I know that Kefir requires grains. And that the stuff in the stores isn't REAL Kefir - which makes the vocabulary a bit confusing.

The stuff in the stores that is CALLED "Kefir" is just yogurt - it has 10 cultures instead of 2-3, and some of them ARE more effective at breaking down lactose than just plain acidophilus or bifidus bacteria. But it does NOT have any of the yeasts or fungi that real Kefir has.

So because it is just yogurt, you can use it as a culture, the same as you would yogurt starter. And you can keep it going, IF you don't get it contaminated with other bacteria - if you use raw milk, eventually the buttermilk cultures from the raw milk will overpower the yogurt cultures, and you end up with minimal yogurt bacteria, and a lot of strong buttermilk cultures. I kept it going for about 5 days refreshing it daily before the buttermilk took over.

 

[ORChick]

So, are you going to take free up on her offer of kefir grains? If she doesn't have any left I do, and could send you some. Sounds like you have done a lot of research, but maybe you haven't found this site yet - http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html - everything that you might want to know about kefir, and maybe a bit more . His writing style is annoying, but he has lots of information.

 

[lwheelr]

Yes, I did PM Free on the kefir grains. I'll let you know if she ends up not being able to send any. I can pay for shipping on them no matter who sends them.

Yeah, I've been over that site. His formatting style is pretty obnoxious too - that violet color on the green background makes his writing style seem more annoying than it actually is.

Thanks!