Why lactose free?

Many people are lactose intolerant which is a common digestive problem where the body is unable to digest lactose, a type of sugar found in milk and, to a lesser extent, in dairy products. Lactose is digested by lactase and can then be absorbed and utilised by the body. If you are lactose intolerant you do not produce enough lactase and therefore the lactose stays in the gut where it is fermented by gut bacteria and produces various gases that lead to diarrhoea, flatulence, stomach cramps, nausea and bloating.

An allergy to lactose is far more serious as it involves the immune system and can result in wheezing or coughing, runny nose, watery eyes, an itchy skin rash or vomiting.

This means that people affected either have to limit the amount of lactose ingested or avoid it completely. Lactase substitutes, in the form of tablets or drops, can be obtained to take with your meals or drinks, to improve your digestion of lactose but it’s better to avoid it. Lactose intolerance varies greatly between different ethnic groups. For example, while only one in 50 people of northern European descent are thought to be lactose intolerant, most people of Chinese descent have the condition. In fact, hereditary or primary lactase deficiency affects 60% of the world’s adult population. The condition can develop at any time and many cases first occur between 20 and 40 years of age.

Unfortunately, many pharmaceutical tablets and capsules contain lactose as a “filler” or “binder”. Fillers are used to bulk out the active ingredient or the drug used in a particular medication as the amount of active drug in a tablet or capsule is very small. Therefore, to make the drug a more manageable size to handle, the pharmacologically inactive fillers are used to bulk out the tablet and increase its size.

However, this practise makes the medication unsuitable for those who are either allergic to lactose or lactose intolerant. There are other fillers that can be used by the pharmaceutical industry that do not cause any problems.

For this reason, the generic sildenafil treatment for erectile dysfunction that we supply from Webmed Pharmacy is lactose free.

Medically reviewed by: Super intendent pharmacist Margaret Hudson BSc(Hons)MRPharmS 19/08/15

https://webmedpharmacy.co.uk/gonorrhoea-symptoms-and-treatment