Since I was a kid, I used to drink several cups of milk daily without any problem but 4 days ago every time I'd drink it I'd suffer from a stomach ache and gas. Why now?
Some people develop a condition known as lactose intolerance with age (and by age it does not necessarily mean old age), and this is more common than is documented in the literature. Lactose is the naturally occurring sugar in cow milk; on the inner surface (mucosa) of the small intestines, there is an enzyme known as lactase that breaks down lactose into its components of simple sugars, glucose and galactose, which can be absorbed into the blood circulation (unlike the lactose molecule which is too large to be taken up as such into the bloodstream). A good proportion of the normal population develop lactase deficiency for reasons that remain not well defined. As a result, once an individual with lactase deficiency consumes milk or dairy products with lactose (but NOT yogurt or laban where the lactose gets fermented into lactic acid), they get digestion trouble because they cannot absorb lactose; consequently, symptoms of bloating, abdominal pain, flatulence (excess gas) and sometimes even diarrhea, happen.
There is also the possibility that this occurs after an episode of prolonged diarrhea (diarrhea for a few days) whereby the inner lining of the intestines wears off temporarily, and along with it the lactase enzyme; this is usually transient and recovery occurs within a few days after the diarrhea stops.
You could shift to soja milk instead of cow milk and if you do not get symptoms, then most likely you do have lactose intolerance.
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