>>i saw a report on the news a couple of days ago about there being more
and >more children who are showing signs of lactose intolerance.  i wonder
why that is.<<

>Possibly because the consumption of wheat is up. Wheat is the grain with
the most gluten, and in certain people gluten damages the small intestine.
The lactase enzyme is produced in the brush border of the microvilli. This
is the first part that gluten compromises.<

I have a much simpler answer.  In the early 1990s Lactaid and Dairy Ease
spent literally tens of millions of dollars on products aimed at the
lactose intolerant.  Awareness of the condition skyrocketed.  More
awareness, more cases.  

In fact, I am quite sure that the percentage of the population that is
lactose intolerant is going down every year.  Lactose tolerance is the
dominant condition: if you get the gene from one of your parents you will
be tolerant too.  In largely homogeneous populations that are mainly
intolerant, the fact tolerance is dominant doesn't make much difference. 
In heterogenerous populations it does.  Ours is a mobile world, with
intermarriages of every stripe commonplace.  Within a few generations,
lactose intolerance could be rare.

Steve Carper
author of Milk Is Not for Every Body: Living with Lactose Intolerance
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/stevecarper