If you're considering a milk-based, low-calorie nutrition supplement to lose weight, let the buyer beware. In a study published in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, people who drank diet shakes with high amounts of lactose tended to have an increase in intestinal gas.

The small study evaluated ten women with lactose intolerance, a condition that involves an inability to digest lactose, the sugar found in milk and other dairy products. Lactose intolerance is a common condition; 30 to 50 million American suffer from it. During the study the women consumed either a vanilla-flavored, milk-based nutritional supplement that had a high level of lactose and was mixed with fat-free milk or a soy powder mixed with lactose-free, low-fat milk.

Women who drank the high-lactose form of the nutrition supplement passed gas three times as frequently than the women who drank the low-lactose mix.

If you experience bloating, cramping, diarrhea, or gassiness after eating milk or dairy products such as milk-based nutritional products, you may be lactose intolerant. To avoid discomfort, you can avoid dairy foods or consume lactase tablets or drops, which contain the digestive enzyme necessary to digest lactose properly.

Related information: Food Choices

Sources:  Suarez FL, Zumarraga LM, Furne JK, Leavitt MD. Nutritional supplements used in weight-reduction programs increase intestinal gas in persons who malabsorb lactose. Journal of the American Dietetic Association December 2001;101:1447-1452.