I've been away for a week, so I'm trying to catch up with a number of
entries all at once. As always I apologize for the way this will format.

I got diagnosed as lactose intolerant in 1978, six years before Lactaid
went onto the market, and way before all these handy non-dairy alternative
foods existed. I stayed as milk-free as possible until Lactaid came around.
Now I am literally never without it. Everybody with LI should carry it
around with them. Don't worry about the brand. Take whatever you like that
works for you.

Nobody knew anything at all about LI back then, so I had to do all my
research myself. I wrote No Milk Today: How to Live with Lactose
Intolerance in 1986 and an all-new compilation of everything I knew as Milk
Is Not for Every Body: Living with Lactose Intolerance in 1995. (Only the
hardback edition of the latter book is still in print, unfortunately.) In
1996, I started Steve Carper's Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse, which now
contains dozens of pages on every aspect of LI, milk, and related issues.

My Product Clearinghouse strives to list every lactose-free alternative to
milk products available in the U.S. and Canada. I'd guess I have over 90%
by now. It is by far the most complete listing available anywhere You can
find a listing of every cheese alternative mentioned in this discussion and
many more, along with mail addresses, phone number, and web addresses, on
the Cheese page. Several real lactose-free cheeses are on the
Reduced-Lactose Milk Products page. I also have a new Pizza and Pasta page
with cheeseless or lactose-free cheese alternatives. I state whether these
products contain casein or not whenever possible.

I've put thousands of hours into this site over the years, so please come
and take a look. It should answer many of your questions. Start with the LI
Basics or Dairy Facts sections, check out the Q and A section, and be sure
to look at News from Planet Lactose. If you still can't find an answer,
e-mail me at [log in to unmask] I personally answer every e-mail,
usually by the next day, except when I'm out of town, which won't happen
again for a while. If you know of products or anything else that I don't
have listed, please, please, please let me know.

Sorry if this sounds like a promotion for myself. I assure you that I have
links, including those from List regulars Don Wiss and Bev Kevles, to many
other sites with useful information both on LI and and milk allergy as well
as related problems. I hope we can all learn from one another.

BTW, As far as I known, lactase pills are not allowed to be sold in the UK.
I can't imagine why, but several UK people have told me that.

Steve Carper
Steve Carper's Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/stevecarper