Does Lactose Intolerance Mean I Cannot Absorb Nutrition from Milk?

[kyphysics]

I know that being intolerant makes it so that my stomach doesn't digest milk/dairy products very well. I get gas and diarrhea at times.

But, would it also mean that when I eat something with dairy that my body does not digest the nutrition in it (as it may be "kicking" it out of my body...or is that what happens)?

And, lastly (if it's true I cannot digest/absorb the nutrients), would taking lactase help my body to both handle dairy better and absorb nutrients in my stomach at that time? Thanks!

 

[hutchphd]

I am not an MD. But lactose intolerance is the inability to digest milk sugar. So it just goes right on through the stomach into the intestines where the bacteria have a milk sugar party! Gas and worse. I think the stomach can still extract the other nutrients however...

 

[chemisttree]

The stomach doesn’t absorb sugar as far as I know. Disaccharides are not absorbed by the intestine as disaccharides. They must be hydrolyzed first to the monosaccharides. Sucrose is acted upon by sucrase. Lactose by lactase. Without lactase, lactose feeds something else in the gut.
Everything else in milk is absorbable though the ileum and jejunum.

 

[jim mcnamara]

I came late to the show here.

Glucose/dextrose - Monosaccharides - are absorbed under the tongue as well as in the stomach. Pretty much throughout the entire alimentary system.

Gut generally bacteria metabolize simple carbohydrate in the colon before it can be absorbed. In fact, a fraction of dietary fiber, like dextrin, is broken down to monosaccharides there by gut flora. Which metabolize them.
Why fiber is needed for healthy gut.

Home treatment for hypoglycemic diabetic kids is to place a glucose pill or liquid under the tongue. This is especially effective when they are not conscious or having seizures and cannot swallow pills or liquids.

Hypoglycemia, low blood sugar, is commonly the result of (pick one or more):
too much insulin
too much exercise
not enough carbohydrates consumed earlier
-- for Type I pediatric patients.