|
Updated January 27, 2006
This page has become such a success that I'm getting reports from
all over Europe. And the UK reports have become so lengthy that I found
I needed to reorganize the page. So here it is. A whole new
non-North-American page packed with info. Proof that it's becoming
easier to be LI everywhere in the world. (Hey, I recently got an
email from Inner Mongolia!)
So please continue to send me information to share. That's why I
call this the Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse, after all.
It's a clearinghouse for information. (I won't use your name
if you request that I don't). I'd like to be able to cover all of Europe.
For that matter, I'd like to cover the whole world, so help me
start a whole new page for Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America.
Thanks one and all to everybody who wrote in. I couldn't do it without you.
 Flash: The UK apparently has its first lactose-reduced chilled milk. Arla Foods has announced Lactofree, which it calls "a UK first."
Lactofree is produced by:
putting semi-skimmed cows milk through a filtration process and adding a lactase enzyme to ensure 99.95% of the lactose is removed.
Lactofree is already in stores, including Sainsbury's and possibly Tesco.
Lactase Pills and Drops
First, the bad news. Lactaid products no longer appear to be
orderable from the UK. And Lactaid has stopped making its lactase
drops entirely.
Don't despair. Drops and pills are available both in the UK and from elsewhere.
At the site allabout-solgar-vitamins.com is this cheery message:The Solgar product range is well known all around the world. In the United Kingdom Hartley's Traditional Products sends Solgar vitamins, minerals, supplements and herbal extracts world wide to, USA, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Scandinavia, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Holland, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Turkey etc.
The link inside that quote on that page takes you to Hartleys Traditional Products site. Once there go to their Digestive Aids page for SOLGAR LACTASE 3500. 30 chewable tabs cost £8.15.
Milkaid is a new UK source for both
lactase pills and drops. Milkaid® Drops 7ml are £9.99 and
Milkaid® Raspberry flavour Chewable 120's are £12.99.
Please note: Postage and Packing is £1.50. Many
thanks to Patty for letting me know about this site.
Lactrase brand lactase tablets and lactase drops should both be
available from Biocare Ltd, although the price may be steep, pills for
£19 for 90 capsules and the drops for £9 for 15ml.
Contact information is:
Biocare Ltd
Lakeside
180 Lifford Lane
Kings Norton
Birmingham B30 3NU UK
0121 433 3727
www.biocare.co.uk
biocare@biocare.co.uk.
The web page for ordering is:
http://www.lactose.co.uk/biocare/products_digestive_enzymes.html
I've also discovered a web page for
Colief Infant Drops, or lactase drops that are being marketed for
adding to the milk you give to infants. They've been on the market in Ireland since
December 1995 and were recently launched in the UK. You can buy them online for
£9.99 plus £1.50 P&P at
http://www.colief.com/buy.htm.
Lifeplan sells 125 mg lactase
tablets on its site (www.lifeplan.co.uk). It sells
for £4.54 for 30 pills. I assume that shipping is extra.
The high street store Holland and Barretts still stocks their
house brand of lactase capsules, Holland & Barrett's Super Lactase Enzyme.
They've lowered the store price of these 125 mg pills to £7.99 for 60 capsules.
And they are even cheaper at their internet site:
www.hollandandbarrett.com.
You can also order by phone at (0870) 606 6605. Thanks to Tania Rivera for this info, and to Maurice Clarke for the update.
And here's an alternative from Dai Warren. "A company called Quest Vitamins
produces lactase tablets. I have just obtained thirty 200 mg tablets
which cost me £5.60."
Contact information is:
Quest Vitamins
6-9 Venture Way
Aston Science Park
Birmingham
B7 4AP
(0)121 359 0056
Arthur McBryan says that he has been
ordering DairyCare capsules from the US. DairyCare combines
acidophilus bacteria that presumably work to replace the bacteria
in the colon that ferment lactose with good bacteria that digest
lactose with lactase itself. The URL is
www.dairycare.com. He says, "So far, they are the most reliable
product, both in effect and consistency of provision."
DairyCare now has a competitor called Digestive Advantage. Their
web site, http://www.rofay.com,
lists 440-516-0707 as a telephone number for "international orders".
My
Canadian Products and Sites page has the names of several
companies that sell lactase of various brands and will fill
international orders.
Alternative Dairy Products
The Redwood Company sent me a press release
to announce the launch of a line of dairy-free cheeses. The
flavors include Feta Style Cheezly in oil (£2.49 for 260g), believed
to be the first
dairy-free version of the Greek classic; meltable Nacho style Cheezly
(£1.67 for 190g),
and grated Cheddar-style Cheezely (£1.67 for 150g).
All are made from soya, starch, and non-hydrogentated vegetable fats,
and are totally free from animal products. They are also lower in
fat than standard dairy cheese.
The Cheezly products will be in health food shops and independent
retailers and also available in Sainbury's. They cannot be shipped to
North America, but will be available for shipping to the Continent.
And now there is also a brand of lactose-reduced milk,
Lactolite. It's 95% lactose-free and packaged in a slimline
half-litre pack. Priced at 42p for 500ml, Lactolite milk is
available in ASDA, Tesco, Morrisons, Nisa, Safeway and CRTG.
For more information, go to their web site:
www.lactolite.co.uk/.
A correspondent on the
No Milk List writes that the Tesco supermarket chain now carries
a dairy- and lactose-free brand of margarine called Pure. Made with
vegetable oils, Pure is soft and comes in tubs. It is also free of
soya, gluten, wheat, and oats.
Dai Warren also mentions that the
Sainsbury's supermarket chain has its own house-brand dairy-free spread.
For dairy-free milk, there is a range of Provamel products, he writes,
that come in soya milk and oat milk.
First, be sure to check the UK info as well, since I'm sure that
some of the firms mentioned will ship their products to the rest
of Europe as well as the UK.
Ralph, the admin of Germany's biggest site on
LI, just gave me the news that the site exists. Go to www.libase.de
for a huge site in German.
Jim Gordon returned to the states from Spain
to say that:
In Madrid, the good news is that dairy plays a minimal role in the local
cuisine. And there's even Presidente brand lactose-reduced (percentage
unknown) reduced-fat milk on sale in most supermarkets. This
ultrapasteurized, boxed milk is imported from Portugal, so that's two
countries where it can be found. Health-food, natural-food or vegetarian
store managers have never heard of non-dairy cheese substitutes or lactase,
although a couple are investigating. Sorbet as a term is loosely used, and
includes milk sherberts as well as sorbet/ices -- and thus ingredients
labels must be carefully checked.
Robin Pike wrote to say that Lactrase is available from "any pharmacy
in Germany, without a prescription,
and some health food shops. These contain FCC 3300 units of lactase and
cost about 27 deutsche marks for 100 capsules. They are manufactured by
Pro Natura Geseltschaft fur gesunde Ernahrung mbH, Frankfurt-am-Main,
Germany."
Risto Berg writes to say that Valio has sent out a press release in
Finland titled "Lactose-free milk with the
taste of real milk".
Risto says, "Our suffering days are over. I have tasted this product and
the taste reminds me what was the taste of milk nearly 30 years ago."
Nordic Farmers in Sweden is a producer of
Oatly Oat Drink, available in unflavored, vanilla and chocolate varieties.
They say it is available in the UK and
Germany as well as throughout Europe.
Contact information is:
Oatly Oat Drinks
Ceba Foods AB
Von Troils vag 1
SE-205 03 Malmö
Sweden
+46-(0)40 22 52 70
www.oatly.com
info@oatly.com.
|
