There are more and more Italians who suffer from Lactose intolerance. And even more numerous are those who, although not really intolerant, find it hard to digest milk. For this reason, in addition to the many vegetable alternatives – from rice milk to soy milk, passing through that of almond or oats – on the market there are many types of delactosed milk: a milk which, containing minimal quantities of lactose, is also ideal for those who cannot digest this sugar. But what is this milk really? How was it born? What nutritional and taste characteristics does it have? There are many questions that those who want to buy it ask themselves: to answer is Luca De Laude, Quality and Innovation Director of the Granarolo Group, which guides us to discover this food.

Delactosed milk: what is it?

«Delactosed milk is a functional milk, a typology capable of performing an important “function” for the well-being of consumers, even for those with specific dietary needs. Delactosed milk is thus also assumable by those who have lactose intolerances, the milk sugar, which is made up of two simple sugars linked together: glucose and galactose.

You don't become intolerant to milk, but to lactose. We must then distinguish between malabsorption and real intolerance, which gives more important symptoms and is diagnosed with a test in the hospital, the breath test. Intolerant people miss it the lactase enzyme, produced and secreted by our small intestine, which serves to break down lactose, a complex sugar, into the two simple sugars, in order to be digested by the body. Intolerance often develops with age, while primary intolerances (congenital alactasia) are rare, although there are populations or individuals who lose the ability to produce this enzyme more or less early (lactose-intolerant). For all these subjects there are special milks and dairy products because they are delactosed at the start.

Born in 1976 with Centrale del Latte Milan (now a brand of the Group), the complete range of milk and derivatives Granarolo Accadì High Digestibility, specially designed for people intolerant to lactose or who have difficulty digesting milk, is one of the first Italian experiences of delactosed products that has managed to evolve and improve over time, boasting cutting-edge production technologies and production entirely made in Italy with the use of only Italian raw materials .

How is this type of milk produced?

«It is possible to produce low-lactose milk thanks to a treatment that involves the splitting (hydrolysis) of lactose by adding the lactase enzyme. Through the controlled action of these specific enzymes that carry out the hydrolysis reaction, the lactose content can thus be reduced. If the enzymes are left to "work" up to more than 90% hydrolysis and then stopped through heat treatment, a product with a reduced lactose content is obtained. If, on the contrary, the enzymes are added after the treatment and are then left to act, we arrive at a practically total hydrolysis of lactose .

Is delactosed milk poorer than "normal" milk?

"Let's dispel a myth. Delactosed milk maintains all the organoleptic characteristics of milk. Through this procedure, the product can be safely consumed with the same benefits of an untreated milk despite being slightly sweeter in taste, because the sugar present is no longer complex and the glucose-galactose mixture makes the milk sweeter, even if no more caloric.

To make up for the slightly sweeter flavor, Granarolo recently launched Granarolo G + Lactose-free (<0.01%), a range of Italian milk only from the Granarolo supply chain developed for all lactose intolerant who every day look for a product suited to their needs. A unique and distinctive drink produced thanks to a patented technology that through an innovative filtration system separates the various components of the milk, obtaining a product without lactose and with 30% less sugar than milk, while keeping the others unchanged. nutritional elements .

What types of delactosed milk exist?

“Delactosed milks can be whole, partially skimmed and even skimmed biological".