E73.0: Congenital lactase deficiency

In the body, certain proteins ensure that processes run better or more quickly. These proteins are also known as enzymes. Lactose (milk sugar) must be broken down by a specific enzyme in the intestines. Only then can lactose be absorbed. You don’t have enough of this enzyme. Consequently, your intestines cannot process it so well. Lactose then gets into intestinal segments where no sugar should be. The sugar is broken down there by normal gut bacteria. If you consume lactose anyway, you may therefore experience abdominal pain or diarrhea, for example.

Many people in the world have too little of this enzyme or the enzyme does not work properly. When a small child no longer receives milk from their mother, the enzyme does not work as effectively. Many dairy products are used in Germany. This is why the body is trained to process lactose, meaning the enzyme continues to work normally after a person is no longer receiving their mother’s milk. In other countries, fewer or no dairy products are used. For this reason, people from such regions are likely not to tolerate lactose.

You have had too little of this enzyme from birth. Therefore, you have not tolerated lactose since your birth.