Cheese Puzzle - Thermophilic Bacteria?

Here's an odd one, my colitis seems to be reacting to dairy products, but only certain ones.

However, it doesn't seem to be either the lactose or the casein but the bacteria that's the issue, and even then only particular strains.

The problems arise whenever I eat cheeses made using thermophilic starter cultures. For the non-cheese expert that means Swiss cheese (Emmental, Gruyere), and most Italian cheeses, like Parmesan, Pecorino, Provolone etc. I know it's definitely the culture by trying different cheddars, only some of which are made with these cultures, and those that are cause bleeding, constipation/diarrhoea which takes a week or so to clear.

Now, I've never heard of this being mentioned on any board before, so was looking to see if there was anyone out there who had anything similar.

The odd thing is that the bacteria in question (Streptococcus Thermophilus and Lactobacillus Bulgaricus) are often called friendly bacteria and are present in SCD yoghurt for example (which I also react badly to).

Am I an odd case, or is this a common issue?

Could also be a histamine intolerance. I went through this myself with just certain cheeses and the histamine wound up being my connection. You may want to look at that also. Many UC'rs are low on the digestive enzyme DAO, which helps metabolize excess dietary histamines and since taking DAO before all meals and higher doses of it before high histamine meals, I no longer have a problem.

Many thanks for getting back to me. The histamine angle is really interesting and something I hadn't thought of. I was struggling to think why certain bacteria would cause an issue, but that might explain it.

This article seems to suggest a link:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0958694612001549

Particularly the line:

"The problem of histamine formation by S. thermophilus in artisanal cheeses must not be overlooked."

It would make sense then that in cheese which used thermophilic starters, and were also aged(which they were), there would be a high level of histamine.

It might also explain another puzzle I had where I am able to eat pasteurized honey but not raw honey. Could it be that any histamine is removed by the processing?

Other foods I have issues with, like Aubergine and Tomato could also fall into this category, which I had always assumed were nightshade intolerances.

Now I need to test the theory. Can anyone recommend a good supplier of DAO enzymes?