While not a cause of lactose intolerance, certain risk factors can make some people more likely to develop lactose intolerance. A risk factor is anything that increases a person's chance of developing a disease. Specific risk factors for lactose intolerance include:
Being a certain ethnicity. African Americans, American Indians, and Asian Americans are more likely to be lactose intolerant.
Being born prematurely. Babies that are born prematurely are more likely to be lactose intolerant because lactase levels do not increase until the third trimester of a woman's pregnancy.
Not everyone with known lactose intolerance risk factors will have lactose intolerance. Additionally, many who do get the disease have none of these risk factors.
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