Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Soy products, have any of you tried Lactaid????

Hi - lactose is just one of the elements in dairy that can cause digestive problems. The fat content, casein, and whey can all cause IBS attacks in people who are susceptible. So, as a matter of course, I just recommend people avoid dairy altogether. Soy and rice milk alternatives are much safer for digestive health and can be used to substitute for just about every dairy product out there. If you find you have an individual tolerance for something most people don't (like Lactaid milk) then of course you're free to use it.

For coffee, it can be a huge trigger not just because of the caffeine, but more importantly because of an enzyme coffee beans contain that is a really powerful GI irritant. Even decaf coffee has this. Adding soy milk, dairy, or anything else won't mitigate this problem for a lot of people.

I always try to give the widest possible guidelines for trigger foods, so that if people eliminate all the potential problems they can stabilize their GI tract. If they can then add in specific elements that they find are not triggers for them, that's wonderful because they then have more dietary freedom. But these fine points are where there can be a lot of individual variation - for instance, I can't tolerate a cup of coffee no matter what's in it, but I can eat a lot more solid chocolate than many IBS folks. However, I'd rather people have the big picture (coffee and solid chocolate are triggers, avoid them to be totally safe) and then have the stability and freedom to experiment on their own and find out where they have areas of greater tolerance. Once someone is stable it's much easier for them to find out for themselves what specific triggers they might have a bit more lenience with than other folks do.

Best,
Heather

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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