Question: Can people who are lactose intolerant still enjoy cheese?
Answer: First, it is important to differentiate between being lactose intolerant and having dairy allergies. Lactose intolerance is characterized by the inability to digest lactose sugar, one of the major components in milk. If you have dairy allergies it is more likely you have a reaction to either the casein protein or whey protein in milk.
For people who have determined they are lactose intolerant, cheese can often be enjoyed in moderation. This is because lactose is primarily in the whey, not the curds. When cheese is being made (with the exception of some soft cheeses that contain whey, like Ricotta) the whey is discarded and the lactose goes with it. Curds still have a little bit of lactose, but not much. As cheese ages and loses moisture and becomes hard, there is even less lactose left in the curds.
Some believe that goats' milk cheese is the easiest type of cheese for lactose intolerant people to digest. Goats' milk actually has the same amount of lactose in it, but it is naturally homogenized, meaning the fat globules are small and remain suspended in the milk rather than separating out. This makes the milk easier to digest. In cow’s milk, the fat globules are large enough that they will separate from the liquid and become hard to digest. A way to visualize this is to think about the thick layer of fat that rises to the top of cream made from cow's milk.
