Why use lactose-free meal replacement drinks?
As you just learned, many people cannot fully digest lactose, which can lead to painful side effects. Basically, foods that cannot be fully digested spend extra time in your gut. This can cause your colon to absorb extra water, leading to diarrhea. Partially digested food also feeds your gut bacteria, which release gas as they eat. Extra gas can cause bloating, flatulence, and stomach pain. It can slow colonic transit – the amount of time it takes food to travel through the colon – leading to constipation.
Lactose consumption has also been linked to acne. Lactose indirectly stimulates insulin production, which regulates sebum production. Sebum, an oily, waxy substance produced by your body’s sebaceous glands, can clog your pores and cause pimples. Lactose can also hinder your ability to process blood sugar efficiently, which can cause inflammation in your skin.
Finally, industrial dairy production is not sustainable. Dairy cows and their manure produce enormous amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, the poor handling of manure and fertilizers pollute local water resources, and unsustainable dairy farming and feed production can also lead to the loss of ecologically important areas such as prairies, wetlands, and forests.
There are several different types of lactose-free meal replacement shakes. What makes one better than the other generally has a lot more to do with what is NOT in it, than what IS. In other words, any type of healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, and complete protein contribute to a nutritious meal. What you want to look out for are unnecessary added ingredients.
Here is a list of the most common food additives in meal replacement powder:
acacia gum, acesulfame potassium, artificial flavors, aspartame, carrageenan, cellulose gum, dextrin, dextrose, erythritol, gellan gum, guar gum, gum arabic, inulin, locust bean gum, “natural” flavors, maltodextrin, rice syrup solids, soy lecithin, silica, sucralose, sunflower lecithin, xanthan gum, xylitol
The first reason why we make the best lactose-free meal replacement drinks is that we do not use food additives. Food additives, much like lactose, are hard to digest. They therefore cause a number of painful gastrointestinal (GI) side effects.