Have you noticed that your baby develops diarrhea, frequent spitting up, or even green stools when drinking formula? Or that adults experience rumbling in their stomachs and bloating as soon as they drink milk?

This is very likely due to symptoms of lactose intolerance. To effectively relieve diarrhea and bloating after drinking milk, Lactase It’s crucial. But with lactase products on the market available in both neutral and acidic forms, how exactly should you choose? Today, we’re going to break it all down for you.

1. Why Does Drinking Milk Cause Diarrhea? Understanding the Role and Benefits of Lactase

As the proportion of people worldwide with lactose intolerance continues to rise, the application of lactase in health supplements and special dietary products is becoming increasingly widespread. Simply put, lactase is the key enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of lactose into glucose and galactose. When our bodies lack this enzyme, undigested lactose enters the intestines and triggers a series of discomforts.

Currently, lactase on the market is mainly divided into two categories: neutral lactase (pH 6.0–7.0) and acidic lactase (pH 3.5–5.5). Although both are used to break down lactose, their actual performance in practical applications differs dramatically.

 

2. How Should You Choose Lactase for Babies? Why Does “Acidic” Outperform “Neutral” When It Comes to Complementary Foods?

For new parents or adult consumers, when buying lactase to take into the stomach for it to work, it’s essential to consider the actual environment of the human stomach.

According to research, the pH in the stomach of healthy adults ranges from 1.5 to 4.5; after normal food or milk intake, the gastric pH generally remains above 3 [1]. In healthy children, the gastric acid pH typically varies between 2.6 and 5.0 [2].

 

 

Limitations of Neutral Lactase: These enzymes can only maintain their activity in a nearly neutral environment. This means that once neutral lactase enters the acidic environment of the stomach, it is highly prone to denaturation, leading to insufficient lactose breakdown and rendering it virtually ineffective in alleviating diarrhea.

Advantages of acidic lactase: Acid‑stable lactase retains high activity even under gastric acid conditions! It can rapidly take effect in the stomach, performing preliminary hydrolysis of lactose and significantly reducing the osmotic load when lactose enters the small intestine. This effectively alleviates symptoms such as diarrhea, bloating, and intestinal rumbling caused by lactose intolerance.

But that doesn’t mean neutral lactase is inferior; neutral lactase is more efficient in food production than acidic lactase. Therefore, virtually all lactose‑free products are produced using neutral lactase.

 

 

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This type of lactase is primarily derived from Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus niger, and has been designated as GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) by the U.S. FDA [3]. It boasts excellent safety profiles and can be widely used in food additives or dietary supplements across diverse populations.

 

3. Are there any side effects to long-term consumption of lactase?

Many moms ask: “How long do I need to take lactase before I can stop? Is it harmful?”

In fact, acidic lactase is not only safe but also offers additional benefits. It is typically derived from Aspergillus oryzae and has been recognized by the U.S. FDA as a Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) substance, demonstrating excellent safety profiles.

In addition, in recent years… Released by the Expert Working Group of the Chinese Society of Nutrition of the “Consensus on Lactose Intolerance and Scientific Milk Consumption” It also points out that lactose is not “a monstrous threat.”

The lactose remaining after acidic lactase hydrolysis can serve as a prebiotic, providing a nutrient substrate for beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria [4], thereby promoting their proliferation in the colon, improving the composition of the gut microbiota, enhancing barrier function, and also facilitating the absorption of trace elements like zinc and calcium [5]. A healthy intestinal ecosystem can further stimulate the body’s own lactase expression, increasing lactose tolerance and delivering long‑term improvements.

Table 1: Activity of NEWGENBIO® at Different pH Levels

 

Table 2: pH Stability of NEWGENBIO®

 

At present, in the development of lactase dietary supplement products both domestically and internationally, virtually without exception, the following is selected: Acid lactase As a functional ingredient, it fully demonstrates the industry’s high level of recognition for the application value of acidic lactase.

 

4. Buying Guide: For High-Quality Acidic Lactase, Choose NEWGENBIO! ^®

NEWGENBIO ^® Patented acidic lactase It boasts comprehensive advantages such as high activity, multiple specifications, and strong adaptability, making it widely applicable to various dosage forms and production processes.

· Powder type Product activity can reach as high as 200,000 ALU/g , suitable for solid dosage forms such as tablets and capsules;

· Liquid type Product activity as high as 70,000 ALU/mL , which can be directly used in drop formulations or dairy product systems;

· Glycerin-free liquid type Product activity also reaches 50,000 ALU/mL It is suitable for applications that are sensitive to glycerin or subject to regulatory restrictions on glycerin, making it particularly well suited for gut health products.

NEWGENBIO® Acid Lactase It demonstrates excellent performance in terms of thermal stability, gastric pH stability, and formulation compatibility, and has undergone comprehensive toxicological testing, exhibiting outstanding safety. It is widely used in various fields, including nutritional supplements, dairy pre-processing, functional foods, and health foods. It already holds a significant share of the raw material markets in both the United States and Europe.

 

Meanwhile, this product series has completed registration with the U.S. FDA’s Drug Master File (DMF) and has initiated the FDA GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) submission process.

     

 

References:

1 “Observation of 24‑Hour Gastric pH Rhythms in Healthy Adults” by Chen Jianqiu, Xu Lanwei, et al., Tianjin Medical Journal, Issue 11, November 1997

2 Gastric acid, pH, and pepsin in healthy and protein-calorie‑malnourished children. S. Shashidhar, S. B. Shah & P. T. Acharya

3 “GRAS Notice (GRN) No. 510”

4 JanssenDuijghuijsen L, Looijesteijn E, van den Belt M, Gerhard B, Ziegler M,

Ariens R, et al. Changes in gut microbiota and lactose intolerance symptoms before and after daily lactose supplementation in individuals with the lactase nonpersistent genotype. Am J Clin Nutr 2024;119:702–710.

5 Kalathinathan P, Sain A, Pulicherla K, Kodiveri Muthukaliannan G. A Review on the Various Sources of β-Galactosidase and Its Lactose Hydrolysis Property. Curr Microbiol 2023;80:122