Have you noticed that your baby develops diarrhea, frequent spitting up, or even green stools after drinking powdered milk? Do 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 is key. However, lactase products on the market come in neutral and acidic forms—so how do you choose? Today, we’ll provide a thorough explanation.

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

As the global prevalence of lactose intolerance continues to rise, the application of lactase in the health supplement and special dietary sectors is expanding rapidly. 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 intestine, leading to a range of discomforts.

Currently, lactase products on the market are mainly categorized into two types: neutral lactase (pH 6.0–7.0) and acidic lactase (pH 3.5–5.5). Although both are used to hydrolyze lactose, their performance in practical applications differs dramatically.

II. How to choose a lactase supplement? Why does “acidic” outperform “neutral” in complementary foods?

For new parents or adult consumers, lactase supplements are purchased to be ingested and exert their effect in the stomach; therefore, it is essential to consider the actual conditions within the human gastrointestinal tract.

Studies have shown that the gastric pH in healthy adults ranges from 1.5 to 4.5, and following normal food or milk intake, the gastric pH generally remains above 3 [1]. In healthy children, gastric acid pH typically varies between 2.6 and 5.0 [2].

 

 

Limitations of neutral lactase: This type of enzyme maintains its activity only in near-neutral conditions. Consequently, once neutral lactase enters the acidic environment of the stomach, it readily loses activity, resulting in insufficient lactose hydrolysis and essentially no alleviation of diarrhea.

Advantages of acidic lactase: Acidic lactase retains high activity even under gastric acid conditions. It rapidly exerts its effect in the stomach, initiating the preliminary hydrolysis of lactose and substantially reducing the osmotic load imposed on the small intestine upon lactose entry. This effectively alleviates symptoms associated with lactose intolerance, such as diarrhea, bloating, and intestinal rumbling.

However, this does not mean that neutral lactase is inferior; in fact, neutral lactase is more efficient than acid lactase in food production. Consequently, virtually all lactose-free products are manufactured using neutral lactase.

Lactase of this type is predominantly derived from Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus niger, and has been designated by the U.S. FDA as GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) [3], demonstrating excellent safety profiles and thus being widely used in food products and dietary supplements across diverse populations.

III. Are there any side effects associated with long-term lactase supplementation?

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

In addition, the “Expert Consensus on Lactose Intolerance and Scientific Milk Consumption” recently released by the Expert Working Group of the Chinese Nutrition Society also emphasizes that lactose is not an “uncontrollable menace.”

The residual lactose remaining after acidic lactase hydrolysis can serve as a prebiotic, providing a nutritional substrate for beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria [4], thereby promoting their proliferation in the colon, improving the composition of the intestinal microbiota, enhancing barrier function, and facilitating the absorption of trace elements such as zinc and calcium [5]. A healthy gut ecosystem can also stimulate the endogenous expression of lactase, thus improving lactose tolerance and achieving long-term benefits.

Table 1: Activity of NEWGENBIO® at Different pH Levels

Table 2: pH Stability of NEWGENBIO®

Currently, virtually all developments of lactase dietary supplements, both domestically and internationally, exclusively utilize acid-form lactase as the functional ingredient, underscoring the industry’s high level of recognition for the application value of acid-form lactase.

IV. Buying Guide: For High-Quality Acidic Lactase, Choose NEWGENBIO®

NEWGENBIO®’s patented acidic lactase boasts high activity, multiple specifications, and strong adaptability, making it suitable for a wide range of dosage forms and manufacturing processes:

• Liquid formulations exhibit activity as high as 70,000 ALU/mL and can be directly incorporated into drop formulations or dairy systems;

• Powdered products are available in a variety of standard specifications, such as 100,000 ALU/g and 160,000 ALU/g, and are suitable for solid dosage forms including formulated milk powders, tableting, and encapsulation.

• In addition, Synoa exclusively offers an ultra-high activity grade of 200,000 ALU/g, suitable for a wide range of applications, including ultra-thin tablet compression.

 

 

NEWGENBIO® acidic lactase demonstrates outstanding performance in thermal stability, gastric pH stability, and formulation compatibility, and has undergone comprehensive toxicological testing, confirming its excellent safety profile. It is widely used in various fields, including dietary supplements, dairy pre-treatment, functional foods, and health foods, and has already captured a significant share of the raw-material markets in the United States and Europe.

 

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

References:

1 “Observation of 24-Hour Gastric pH Rhythm in Healthy Adults” by Chen Jianqiu, Xu Lanwei, et al., Tianjin Medicine, Issue 11, 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

—About NEWGEN—

About Us

 

Ningbo Xinyao Marine Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is located in Xiangshan County, Ningbo City. Founded in 2013 by Dr. Zhu Hui, a U.S.-trained immunology expert who returned to China, the company is a high-tech enterprise. Grounded in marine biological resources and leveraging synthetic biology technologies, Xinyao develops natural bioactive macromolecular products derived from marine organisms, with the aim of delivering intestinal nutrition and health solutions and revitalizing nutrition and health services.

 

 

The company is among the world’s leaders in the fields of marine polysaccharides, marine enzyme preparations, and intestinal microbiota. Leveraging its strong capabilities and cutting-edge technologies in marine biopharmaceuticals, the company has undertaken numerous national, provincial, and municipal R&D projects, including the National 13th Five-Year Plan Project for Marine Innovation Development and Demonstration, the Ningbo Municipal “2025 Science and Technology Breakthrough” Major Special Project, and the Ningbo Municipal “Challenge-Based Recruitment” Major Special Project, among others.

 

 

The company has obtained numerous quality management system certifications, including ISO 22000:2015 Food Safety Management System, ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System, HACCP Food Safety Management System, as well as Kosher, Halal, and NSF-CGMP certifications. It is a member of several international associations, such as the International Probiotics Association (IPA) and the Enzyme Technical Association (ETA), and has received multiple provincial- and municipal-level awards for technological innovation, including the Third Prize of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Science and Technology Award, the Second Prize of the China Invention Association, and the Third Prize of the Ningbo Science and Technology Progress Award. The company places great emphasis on intellectual property protection; as of 2023, it has filed more than 70 patent applications and been granted 36 patents, including 23 invention patents.