Title: Can You Become Lactose Intolerant After Eating a Vegan Diet?
Headings: What is Lactose Intolerance? Can You Become Lactose Intolerant after Eating a Plant-Based (Vegan) Diet?
What is Lactose Intolerance? Can You Become Lactose Intolerant after Eating a Plant-Based (Vegan) Diet?
60% or more of humans are lactose intolerant.
Lindsay S. Nixon

Content: Going vegan (or dairy-free) doesn't make you lactose intolerant, yet many people find after removing dairy from their diet, they can no longer tolerate it. Why? People who are lactose intolerant can't digest lactose, the sugar found in milk. Lactase, the enzyme that helps humans digest lactose stops being produced when the person is between the ages of 2 and 5. Without lactase to break down the sugar, it goes on to the colon undigested where it ferments, producing gas that causes cramping, bloating, nausea, flatulence and diarrhea. Being able to digest dairy past early childhood is not "normal." Less than 40% of humans retain the ability to digest lactose after early childhood. The numbers are given as close to 0% of Native Americans, 5% of Asians, 25% of African and Caribbean peoples, 50% of Mediterranean peoples and 90% of northern Europeans. ( Interestingly, Sweden has one of the highest percentages of lactose intolerant people). 60% or more of humans are lactose intolerant.