Customer Reviews

Digestive Advantage Daily Lactose Defense Formula Capsules, 32-Count Boxes (Pack of 3)

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've been lactose intolerant for a dozen years and started using Digestive Advantage two months ago. Following the instructions, I took two pills the first two days and one pill daily thereafter. The first week it cleaned me out such that I was "dropping the kids off at the pool" a few times a day. In a week my movements returned to normal and the testing began.

Test one, 1 week in: Chocolate ice cream - that delicious treat the used to leave me releasing military grade stink bombs. Result: Complete success. No bloating, no diarrhea, no stink bombs.

Test two, 1 month in: Annie's white cheddar mac and cheese prepared with real milk. The dish that made me realize I was lactose intolerant. Result: Fair success. A little bloating, but no diarrhea or effluvium.

Test three, 2 months in: Indian buffet - a WMD for the lactose intolerant. Chicken in cream sauce, spinach paneer, rice pudding. Result: Complete success. I enjoyed a peaceful night air all evening long.

Test four, 2.1 months in: Creme Brulee. Result: Failure. GanedenBC30 meets its match ... and I suffer through a night of a malodorous funk that would make a dung beetle ask for a courtesy flush.


The small green pill you need to take each day contains lactase enzyme and GanedenBC30. The lactase is probably in there just for show since anyone who has taken lactase knows you need to take it with the offending food. You take the Digestive Advantage pill just once a day at an unspecified time. The action is from the GanedenBC30, which is the brand name for Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, a bacteria that breaks down lactose and complex sugars. With these little bacteria living in my intestines, I can eat a lot more dairy than I could before, but I still have my limits.

On August 19, 2010, I went to the doctor. My complaint: constant low-grade abdominal discomfort, six to eight months of continuous steatorrhea, diarrhea about once a week, pronounced weakness and getting worse, fatigue, low dips in blood sugar, seventeen pounds of weight loss, insomnia. The doctor gave me a physical exam and requested several batteries of blood tests. They found nothing.

On the day I went to the doctor, I stopped taking Digestive Advantage (DA) since it was the only variable I had to eliminate. I had been using it for at least two years, and initially, I was as impressed as all the reviews are here. However, within twenty-four hours of stopping it, I noticed an improvement in my steatorrhea. I remained off of DA and continually improved. Now, on September 7, 2010, I am gaining weight, my strength is back, I have no abdominal discomfort, and everything is improving. I feel like a new man. I have normal poops again!

For me, long-term use of DA became a health liability. If you are using DA or planning on trying it, please keep my symptoms in the back of your mind. Maybe DA will only affect me in this manner, but I feel obligated to warn others.

I will no longer use it.

UPDATE: OCTOBER 4, 2010: It has been 46 days since I quit taking DA. There has been no return of symptoms, and my health is great. Consequently, there is absolutely, positively no doubt that long-term use of DA interfered with my ability to properly digest food. Also, it is only now that I recognize just how sick I was. The digestion problems came on so gradually that it took me months to notice the full extent of the sickness and several more months to finally suspect DA.

I will be writing a letter to the manufacturer and to the FDA. In my experience, long-term use of DA will inhibit your digestion and make you very sick.

UPDATE: OCTOBER 8, 2010: So I just learned that there actually is a condition called Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO). It is a condition in which too much bacteria forms in the small intestine, and it interferes with digestion. The symptoms? Everything I listed in the beginning of this review.

DA is a bacteria (bacillus coagulans). You take it everyday. I'm no doctor, but it is no stretch of the imagination that DA caused me SIBO. You can read about SIBO here: [...]

By the way, I emailed the company on October 4. They have not responded. As for the FDA, I forgot: they do not regulate dietary supplements. It is a buyer-beware market.

Please beware.

I used this product for about two years and it worked great. I took two pills for the first two weeks then one every day after that. I really was able to eat all the dairy that I wanted with no ill effects.

However, after the first two years, I slowly started having some gas and diarrhea from dairy. I was able to deal with those symptoms by taking two of these pills every day instead of just one. I am wondering now whether I will have to eventually take even more or whether they will stop working altogether some day.

I suffered from extreme Lactose Intolerance for about 20 years. Although my pockets were stuffed with Lactaid whenever I went out, I needed at least 3 Lactaid Ultra pills before I could enjoy an ice cream cone, and even then I calculated the distance to the nearest restroom. For those with normal digestive tracts, I'm sure this sounds gross, but for those with Lactose Intolerance, it probably describes many days of your life. At it's worst, I would even get ill if I ate something made with butter if I didn't take Lactaid.

Once in high school I got sick after eating Pop Rocks- who would have guessed that Lactose was one of the main ingredients? By that point, I memorized almost every product's ingredients on the grocery store shelves, and whenever people offered me food I wasn't familiar with I asked to read the ingredients before deciding if I would try it...

So the great news is that Digestive Adnvantage's Lactose Intolerance supplement has solved my problems with most things Lactose. I take the pills regularly (one every morning), and I can essentially eat whatever I want without worrying about the ingredients. That said, I don't drink my weight in milk or get a triple-scoop ice cream cone, but I am perfectly fine after eating cholate, cakes, pizza, cheeses, creamy deserts, etc. I highly recommend this product for those with Lactose Intolerance, although based on reading other reviews it doesn't appear to work as well for everyone.

How nice it is to finally be able to eat dairy without a worry. Just one pill a day is all it takes. It's a problem only when I forget to take it, but once a day isn't too hard to remember.

I had such a bad reaction to dairy, even the lactose free ones that I had to completely give up all dairy!! The lactose pills didn't work for me either. My mash potatoes were even mashed with the potato water, a little bland to say the least. But now the sky is the limit on dairy products!! It took about a month to get into my system really well, but now I eat my favorite ice cream, puddings made with REAL milk,cheese, and the sooooo missed chocolate milk with breakfast and my mashed potatoes are back to their great flavor and creamy!! Who knew one pill a day could do such wonders!! And many thanks to Amazon for making it affordable!!

I have been suffering from lactose intolerance since the tender age of 16. I would classify my malady as towards the severe end of the spectrum. Those of us with lactose tolerance knows what THAT means! Milk, soft cheeses, and especially CREAM are the common enemies. Try to enjoy a delicious dish of any pasta with Alfredo sauce and you'll see exactly when Mount St. Helens will erupt again! I have probably gone through 1000 boxes of Lactaid pills over the years in all their distinct forms (fast acting, ultra, etc.) with varying results. You see - Lactase enzyme pills mixed with your first bite of food works a lot, but not ALL of the time. I would speculate it has to do with rates of absorption, but most of us who have taken lactase enzyme - regardless of the brand - often enough have run into the occasions where it doesn't work as well as we'd like. The prospect of taking a product once per day instead of every meal was enough of a motivator for me. I was very, very apprehensive about the validity of the claims. I followed the directions and took 2 pills per day for several days before trying any dairy product naked (aka: no lactaid!). My first test was a very thick Greek yogurt. The same yogurt would have normally been enough to keep any living thing away from me for several hours in the absence of Lactaid. I had absolutely NO ill effect...amazing! Over the next few weeks I experimented with a variety of food in a myriad of quantities. I must say this has completely worked for me! It is great not having to keep a pocketful of pills just in case you stop at a restaurant or for ice cream (another common lactose intolerant nightmare food). I just hope the effectiveness does not wane with time. Due to my severe lactose intolerance I still continue taking 2 per day (instead of 1) and stagger them. One in the am and one in the pm - just to keep a consistent flow in my system. I may eventually have the intestinal (no pun intended) fortitude to wean down to 1 per day, but I'm just not ready for that challenge yet :)

I have been lactose intolerant my whole life and am still thankful for listening to the radio one day (many years ago now) and hearing about this product. I had tried other pills to help with the intolerance but nothing worked. This product is amazing! By the second day I could have dairy whenever I wanted and only take one pill a day! I recommend this to anyone who has an intolerance to dairy but doesn't want to live without it-or to have to remember to take one (or more) pills every time you want dairy.

I am starting to get fat..,
I can eat ice cream again, anything smothered in butter or sour cream.
after years of getting sick i am finally able to eat like a normal person without worry.

been using this product for a few months and can tell you it works much better than anything out there, It actually works so good it can change your eating habits for the worse,

now for the first time in my life i have to go on a diet and cut down on the icecream, butter etc.

My husband and son have taken Digestive Advantage - Lactose product for a long time, and it worked amazingly for both of them. We never had any qualms about recommending this to ppl who were taking dairy tablets with meals or when they wanted ice cream or diary products. A one a day tablet was so much easier than carrying little packets with us everywhere.

However, recently we noticed two things, the first being that this product became impossible to find for quite awhile and when it was finally back on the shelves, it was apparant that it no longer was quite the same. Over time, both my son and husband were back to having the same issues they'd always had with dairy. Digestive Advantage(Schiff) reformulated the pills, and you need 2-3 a day to get the same benefit. I've written to the company, I don't know if they were forced to by FDA standards or they made the switch on their own..but if it's the company? Shame on them! That's a money grab to make consumers buy 2-3 boxes a month (per person) to do what one box a month used to do. Our family will be on the hunt for a new product.