Key takeaways
- Lactase supplements like Milkaid help digest lactose, but the supermarket chewables include raspberry flavouring.
- The unflavoured capsule version is only available directly from milkaid.com — same dose, no additives.
- During strict elimination, lactose-free products are cleaner than relying on enzyme supplements.
- Once lactose is confirmed as a trigger in reintroduction, lactase supplements become a useful day-to-day tool.
Milkaid is a lactase enzyme supplement — you take it before eating dairy and it helps you digest lactose. Straightforward enough. What most people don't know: the version sold in pharmacies and supermarkets contains raspberry flavouring.
Raspberry flavouring. In a product designed for people with digestive issues.
It doesn't affect the efficacy of the enzyme itself. The flavouring is purely cosmetic — the chewable tablets taste like raspberry so they're more palatable. But for people with IBS, artificial flavourings and additives are a known irritant for some. You could be taking a supplement to reduce dairy symptoms while inadvertently adding a separate trigger every time you use it.
The fix
The unflavoured capsule version is only available directly from the Milkaid website. The Milkaid Max Capsules (60s) contain the enzyme — nothing else added. Same dose as the Max tablets, no raspberry, no unnecessary additives.
Enzymes vs the elimination diet
Lactase supplements let you eat dairy without lactose symptoms, but they don't change the fact that lactose is a FODMAP. During the strict elimination phase, it's cleaner to switch to lactose-free products rather than relying on enzyme supplements — the goal of that phase is a complete baseline, and supplements add a variable.
Once you're in reintroduction and have confirmed that lactose is a trigger (or isn't), lactase supplements are a useful day-to-day tool. Capsules only, if you can manage it.
References
- 1.Misselwitz B, Butter M, Verbeke K, Fox MR. Misselwitz et al. — Lactose intolerance: diagnosis and management — Gut, 2019
- 2.
