Lactose Intolerance: A side effect of Celiac Disease?

Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disorder that can lead to many conditions due to the fact that it affects the absorption of nutrients that our body naturally needs. If you’d like to learn more about Celiac Disease, please click here to read my article explaining it.

Nearly all celiacs have trouble digesting Lactose. They can be thus considered Lactose Intolerant. But what brings this additional disorder in? Simple: the damaged villi (finger-like or hair-like projections in the small intestin).

When you have Celiac Disease, your villi will get atrophic, making your system unable to break down the Lactose Molecules.

When this happens, you’ll become temporarily (we hope) Lactose Intolerant.
Some (if not most) people are able to reintroduce lactose into their diets after a few months of being Gluten-Free.

The time it takes for the villi to normalize and to be able to break down Lactose greatly varies from individual to individual, so it’s really difficult to say how much time your system will take to recover if you are a Celiac. It can take a few months (never less then 6 months), and it can take up to 2 years in other cases. Your doctor will be the only one able to provide you with a correct estimate for this to happen, with regular intestine biopsies and/or blood tests.

So my ultimate advice for you; if you have Lactose Intolerance and Celiac Disease is to avoid Lactose at all costs during the first months of recovery. Then, after getting permission from your doctor: reintroduce Lactose to your diet. But do it gradually, so you do not get any problems from doing it.