The prevention of lactose intolerance actually aims to prevent or alleviate its symptoms, not the condition itself. Of course, the symptoms can be avoided altogether by not consuming anything that contains lactose. This, however, can be difficult since traces of milk and lactose can be found in many pre-made foodstuffs, and not only in dairy products like cheese, milk, yogurt and such. Vegan foods are a good alternative since soy milk, soy yogurt and others do not contain lactose.
Those who do not suffer from severe lactose intolerance can simply focus on foods with low content of lactose, such as low-lactose Cheddar or Swiss cheese, yogurts with active live cultures and similar. Milk will cause much less discomfort if consumed in combination with meals and not alone. In addition, there are lactose formulas that can be purchased in drugstores and used to pre-treat the milk. If added to milk, which is then refrigerated for 24 hours, these formulas can hydrolyze up to 99 percent of the lactose.
It is important to realize that lactose intolerance does not mean having to give up on dairy products forever. Sometimes this condition is only temporary and associated with other gastrointestinal problems, such as stomach flu, a parasitic infection or inflammatory bowel disease.