Charlse Nsubuga, the managing director of SESACO Limited, the manufacturers of various Soy products says that people who are lactose intolerant have another option of Soy milk.
Justine Kyeyune, 40, had been taking milk since childhood but stopped two years ago because she started suffering stomach upset and skin rash after consuming it.
When she visited a nutritionist, she was told that her condition was a result of deficiency in an enzyme called lactase that breaks down sugar known as lactose found in milk.
She was told that this condition can be genetical or the body can reach a stage and develops it.
Kyeyune says she was given advice to take alternatives of fermented milk products and soy milk because they do not contain lactose.
Peter Kato Kikomeko, a nutritionist at Kyambogo University who is also the Secretary of the Nutritionist Association of Uganda says that in normal circumstances when a person eats anything containing lactose, an enzyme found in the small intestine called lactase breaks it down into small sugar forms called glucose and galactose, which are then easily absorbed into the bloodstream and turned into energy.
He says that milk has a benefit of calcium and proteins therefore, if a person does not take it, they miss out on this yet their bodies need them.
Kikomeko however, said that a person who is lactose intolerant can have an option of taking fermented milk products like cheese, yogurt, and ghee and diluted milk because the lactose percentage will have been reduced.