Practically every fifth athlete has lactose intolerance, or hypolactasia in another way. This does not bring special health problems and is not actually considered a disease. But nevertheless, hypolactasia causes a number of rather unpleasant symptoms from the gastrointestinal tract, such as diarrhea, bloating, and nausea. Pathology can be of a different nature: for example, some people suffering from it calmly consume condensed milk, dairy products and ice cream, while others, on the contrary, do not tolerate any milk.
Lactose intolerance is a big problem for athletes. After all, casein and whey shakes, which may contain milk sugar, are considered the best protein mixtures. And if the athlete is also allergic to egg albumin, he will have to switch to less complete plant mixtures. Modern manufacturers have tried to solve this problem and developed a protein without lactose. Read about it in this article.
How to determine intolerance
If after consuming milk and any other dairy products, after half an hour, a person develops bloating, pain in the abdomen, diarrhea and gas, then most likely he has hypolactasia. It is worth noting that these manifestations occur only at the moment when the athlete consumes foods containing lactose, in other cases, the body works fine.
Gluten and Lactose Free Whey Protein
In the process of manufacturing protein supplements, raw materials are thoroughly cleaned. Depending on what technology was used, the output is:
- Isolates.
- Concentrates.
- Hydrolysates.
As a rule, many impurities are present in concentrates, including milk sugar. But if you buy a hydrolyzate or isolate, maximally free from foreign substances, this will be a protein without lactose. Most often, these mixtures contain 95% protein, and lactose is either completely absent or present, but in very small quantities, which in no way affect the state of the gastrointestinal tract.
On the shelves you can find a large number of such mixtures. It is worth noting that they cost more than ordinary ones. In addition, athletes believe that whey protein without lactose is in any case more suitable for use due to the lack of fats, carbohydrates, cholesterol and the presence of almost pure protein in it.
Egg, beef and vegetable mixtures
Lactose-free protein mixtures need not be whey-based. Instead, you can use beef, egg or vegetable protein, which does not contain this component. At the same time, meat and egg supplements are not inferior to whey in terms of full amino profile, assimilation rate and other parameters.
Egg albumin is believed to be the safest alternative for those suffering from hypolactasia, albeit not the cheapest. In such mixtures, there is no milk sugar at all, whether it is a poorly purified isolate or concentrate. At the same time, the rate of assimilation and their amino profile are as close as possible to milk protein shakes. The same can be said for beef mixtures. Although completely replacing them with other types of proteins is still not recommended.
Herbal supplements include rice, soy and pea mixtures. According to the amino profile, they are slightly worse than animal additives. In this regard, vegetable protein is best combined with cocktails of egg, beef or whey (isolate) protein.
Manufacturers
If we talk about specific examples, we can note the following best lactose-free proteins, which have established themselves among athletes and are very popular:
- Platinum Hydrowhey. This product is made by Optimum Nutrition, one of the oldest sports food giants. This mixture differs not only in the absence of impurities, but also in a composition rich in nutrients. In addition, athletes note that the supplement does not have the bitterness characteristic of hydrolyzates and even, on the contrary, has several excellent tastes.
- Iso-Sensation. The manufacturer of this product is Ultimate Nutrition. This is an isolate with the addition of lactase, which destroys the already small amount of lactose in production.
- Zero Carb. The product was created by VPX. It is considered one of the highest quality isolates.
- ISO-100. Previous mixtures are quite expensive. This Dymatize shake is one of the cheapest lactose-free whey proteins. Moreover, it has excellent quality.
How to use
Lactose-free protein supplements are no different than regular sports nutrition. Athletes who suffer from hypolactasia can use the mixture according to their usual schedule. Mixtures are also diluted with juice or water.
For diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, protein is best used with meals or after meals. Also, experts recommend picking up a cocktail without dyes, flavor enhancers and fruit acids.
On average, in one portion of the protein mixture (depending on the brand) contains from 25 to 35 grams of powder. You can drink no more than 3 servings of such a cocktail per day.
Pluses of Lactose-Free Protein
Lactose-free protein mixtures have many advantages:
- Strengthen the immune system.
- Enrich the body with useful macro- and microelements.
- Helps strengthen bones.
- They give a good mass gain.
- They do not contain lactose, which makes it possible to take cocktails for people suffering from hypolactasia.
- Improve digestion.
- They help burn excess subcutaneous fat.
How to get rid of hypolactasia
Before buying products without lactose, it is best to try to get rid of intolerance to this substance. Experts say that such a cure is quite real. There are several methods for this:
- First you need to determine whether a person has a negative reaction to sour-milk products. If not, he can drink casein, and in some cases whey shakes. In this case, you need to start with small portions.
- Also, to get rid of lactose intolerance, you can try to drink 1/4 cup of milk once a day after a heavy meal. Gradually, every 2 weeks, you should increase the portion in the absence of negative manifestations.
In the event that these methods do not help, you should give preference to lactose-free mixtures.