Malkani says there's a bit of a misconception around lactose intolerance. "Sometimes people think that if you have lactose intolerance, you won't be able to digest any amount of lactose," she says. And that's not actually true. Everyone is different, but lactose intolerance can really be managed, she says. "It's often a matter of degree, and it can be managed by eating or drinking just less of the lactose-containing products," she says. This might take some trial and error, but sometimes people who are lactose intolerant do just fine with a little bit of yogurt and cheeses that are low in lactose. To be clear, some people do have a true milk allergy , which can cause an immune response to proteins in milk, she says. But for the rest of the population, intolerance is not so black and white.