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Shopping tips for people with lactose intolerance

All packaged food products should have a label on them. This gives you information about things like:

the expiration date (the “use-by” date)
the ingredients in the product
ingredients that often cause allergies or intolerance reactions
the amount of nutrients and energy in the product

Food labels: What should I look out for?

In many countries, including Germany and the USA, exactly what kind of information has to be displayed on food packaging is specified in regulations. The list of ingredients is the most important information for people who have lactose intolerance:

In Germany, ingredients are listed in descending order of weight per serving – starting with the main ingredient and ending with the ingredient that is present in the smallest amount.
Lactose has had to be mentioned on the label since November 2005.
All food additives have to be listed in the ingredients. These include things like emulsifiers, artificial colours and preservatives.
Labelling regulations are particularly strict when it comes to foods that cause more common allergies, such as soy, wheat, milk, eggs or nuts.

An important difference: Per serving or per package?

Make sure that you know what the amount of lactose (in grams) shown on the label is referring to – is it the amount per serving or the total amount in the package? For example, if a packet of instant mashed potatoes has four servings in it, and the amount of lactose in grams shown on the label refers to the amount in one serving, then the packet will have four times that amount in it.

What words should I look out for in the ingredients?

If one of the things below is listed in the ingredients of a food product, then pay attention to the amount:

lactose
milk sugar
lactose monohydrate

Lactose is also found in all products that have any of these on their label:

milk from mammals such as cows, sheep or goats / whole milk / skim milk
cream / powdered cream / sour cream
milk powder / whole milk powder / skim milk powder
dry milk / milk solids
milk constituents
whey / whey powder / whey products / sweet whey / sweet whey powder
butter

Plant-based milk substitutes are available too. Although these drinks are sometimes called “milk”, they do not have lactose in them. They are made from things like:

almonds
soy
rice
oats

The following ingredients do not have lactose in them either:

lactate
lactic acid
milk protein
lactic acid bacteria / “lactic acid fermented” (like in sauerkraut)
baking agents / food binding agents / starch / thickeners

If you want to know what words to look out for on German food labels, click here.

Food products might change

If you get symptoms again despite not eating or drinking any dairy products, it can be a good idea to take another look at the labels of foods that you already know. This is because the ingredients of food products can change, for example if the manufacturer changes the recipe.

You can read more about lactose intolerance, the treatment options and diet here.

Author: German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG)