>>21466005>>21466462>>21467231Cheese is fermented by bacteria that eat the lactose during fermentation. The highest lactose cheeses are less fermented ones that asians certainly don't eat like young mozzarella or ricotta. Shit like cheddar or gruyere don't have enough lactose to trigger an intolerance response.
So it's not about that. However, there could be other reasons they can't process cheese well. I recently learned of "milk allergy" that is becoming more common in the west and is based on allergy to the milk protein content rather than lactose. I haven't found any info on whether it's more prevalent in Asia but I would bet that it is.