Additional costs of lactose-reduced diets: lactose-free dairy product substitutes are a cost-effective alternative for people with lactose intolerance.

OBJECTIVE

People with lactose intolerance have to limit their consumption of lactose-containing dairy products which are a main source of Ca. In particular, for low-income people it is of interest which alternative diet form rich in Ca leads to the lowest additional costs. This study aims to calculate the additional costs of lactose-reduced diets and to show which of different options represent the most cost-effective alternative within a lactose-reduced diet.

DESIGN

Using linear programming, food baskets with different lactose contents were calculated and were compared to a basic model, reflecting a normal diet without a limitation of lactose. By comparing the costs and the composition of the food baskets, recommendations for a lactose-reduced diet were derived.

SETTING

Germany.

PARTICIPANTS

A consumer panel dataset representative for Germany is used for the calculations. Information on prices and nutrients is derived from the 9429 adult households without children, and information on consumed food quantities from the 3046 single households.

RESULTS

The minimum additional food costs depend on the severity of lactose intolerance and range from 0·2 % to 6·1 % per month. It was found that the greatest adjustments due to lactose reduction could be observed within the dairy product group. In this group, with a rising lactose limit, normal milk was increasingly replaced by lactose-free milk.

CONCLUSION

It was shown that a lactose-reduced diet is generally associated with higher food costs. When suffering from lactose intolerance, switching to lactose-free milk seems to be the most cost-effective way to cover nutrient requirements.