Gender, Age, Race and Lactose Intolerance: Is There Evidence to Support a Differential Symptom Response? A Scoping Review

Rebecca A Lapides; Dennis A Savaiano

doi:10.3390/nu10121956

Gender, Age, Race and Lactose Intolerance: Is There Evidence to Support a Differential Symptom Response? A Scoping Review

Nutrients. 2018 Dec 11;10(12):1956. doi: 10.3390/nu10121956.

Authors

Rebecca A Lapides¹, Dennis A Savaiano²

Affiliations

¹ Nutrition Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA. rlapides@purdue.edu.
² Nutrition Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA. savaiano@purdue.edu.

Abstract

Research evaluating the relationship between lactose intolerance (LI) symptoms and age, gender and race is reviewed. An exhaustive search was conducted on the Google Scholar and PubMed databases. The evidence suggests that women, the elderly or specific racial groups are not more susceptible to LI, but rather dose, body size and genetic differences in lactase non-persistence (LNP) are the primary drivers of intolerance symptoms.

Keywords: Lactose intolerance; age; gender; race.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Female
Humans
Lactose Intolerance / epidemiology*
Male
Middle Aged
Racial Groups / statistics & numerical data
Sex Factors
Young Adult