Assessment of Milk Consumption and Lactose Intolerance among Self Perceived Lactose Intolerant Student of Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Nigeria

Objective: The study assessed milk consumption and prevalence of lactose intolerance among self-perceived lactose intolerant students of Abia State Polytechnic, Aba.

Subject and Methods: The study involved 121 self-reported lactose intolerants students from which 76 students with confirmed cases of lactose intolerant were selected from two purposively selected departments namely: Food Science and Technology (F.S.T) and Hospitality Management Technology (H.M.T) Abia State Polytechnic Aba. Questionnaires were used to collect information on dairy consumption and self- perceived intolerance to milk; while milk tolerance test was used to investigate the incidence of lactose tolerance among the student

Results: The result shows that self-perceived lactose intolerance was higher (89%) than the estimated prevalence of (79%) among the students. The majority of the students consumed milk and dairy products, with percentages of 100%, 82%, 72%, and 100% for milk, ice cream, yoghurt, and flavored dairy products, respectively. The frequency and serving portions consumed per day were small. The percentages were 24%, 17%, 16%, and 15% for milk, ice cream, yoghurt, and flavored dairy products, respectively. None of the subjects consumed up to 2 serving of milk per day.

Conclusion: The result shows that a high percentage of the students still consume milk and dairy products, irrespective of their lactose intolerance. This suggests that lactose intolerance could not stop the subjects from consuming milk and dairy products. The low frequency of daily consumers of milk and dairy products coupled with small portion sizes of milk and dairy products indicates that dairy consumption among the subjects was poor and inappropriate. Inappropriate consumption of milk and dairy products would fail to meet the nutritional needs of the consumer.