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Nagging Question
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Why Can Lactose-Intolerant People Eat Some Cheeses and Not Others?It has to do with how long the cheese is aged |
Why can lactose-intolerant people eat some kinds of cheese and not others?
It has to do with how long the cheese is aged. Generally speaking, the older the cheese, the less lactose it has. As the chief sugar in milk, lactose is the main food source for the various species of Lactobacillus used in making most kinds of cheese. These bacteria, which are also responsible for sourdough bread, yogurt, kimchee, and dozens of other fermented foods, turn lactose into lactic acid, which is easily digested by humans, even those who are lactose intolerant. The longer a cheese ages, the more of its lactose is consumed by the bacteria. “In theory,” University of Wisconsin-Madison food science professor Scott Rankin says, “most of the lactose is gone after three months of aging.”
Processed cheese has the most lactose. Christine Gerbstadt, a dietitian and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, points to Velveeta, which has 9.3 percent lactose—as much as whole milk. (Milk is 9 to 14 percent lactose, with skim on the high side and whole on the low side.) Not only is Velveeta unaged, but it also contains added lactose-laden milk solids. Fresh and/or unripened cheese, including Mexican queso fresco, farmer’s cheese, some mozzarella, paneer, cottage cheese, and cream cheese, contains the second-greatest quantities of lactose.
A good rule of thumb: The harder the cheese, the older it is, and the lower the lactose. So the eight-month-old, rock-hard Parmesan will contain less lactose than a softer (younger) Parmesan. Aged cheeses, including Roquefort and some goat cheeses, typically contain around 2 percent lactose.
But there’s no hard-and-fast rule for lactose-intolerant folks to follow—everybody can handle different concentrations. In fact, all people are lactose intolerant to some extent: Eat a whole bunch of pure lactose and you’ll wind up unhappy, no matter who you are. If you have trouble with dairy but still love cheese, Rankin suggests working your way up. Start with small quantities of aged cheeses: a little Parmigiano-Reggiano on your pasta, or some sharp cheddar in an omelet. It is possible to develop a better tolerance for lactose through exposure, so that bowl of Velveeta-and-salsa dip at your Super Bowl party might not be out of reach forever.
I was always curious about this myself, Im pretty intolerant, myself, but Id noticed that sometimes parmesian or a couple of other cheeses were no problem for me. Now I wonder, if I buy a block of cheese which I know to cause me trouble (for example, mozerella or brick cheese) and then let it age a couple months, will it make it less of a problem for me? Im not very well-educated on cheese, though, so I dont know if it will age without molding quickly, or if the mold on cheese is evena problem.
I'm not so sure about aging your own cheese at home. There's no guarantee that the lactobacilli are still alive in the there to break down the lactose, and there's the distinct possibility of it going moldy. I've been told (and have done so personally a few times) that you can cut the mold off cheese and still eat it, but better safe than sorry.
Stick with cheese that was already aged when you bought it.
scoobyhed - there's no problem with aging cheese at home. Although the refrigerator is not the perfect environment for cheese, it will do in a pinch. To avoid mold developing on your cheese, try wrapping it in parchment paper instead of plastic so the cheese can breathe. Allow moisture to build up on the cheese and mold WILL form. But it's not the end of the world, and certainly does not mean you can't eat the cheese. Rub or cut it off and eat away!
I am lactose intolerant and I am usually fine with most hard cheeses like Parmesan and Cheddar. American, creamed, cottage, and mozzarella all leave me in dire pain.
I think I would rather skip cheese than to remove some mold off a piece to get to the good part...lol
I've always wondered about this. I'm pretty fine with cheese, but when it comes to things like milk, ice cream, and cream-based sauces and soups, it's out of the question.
Lactose is in the Whey which is removed from aged cheese when it is being made