An article on this did the rounds a few months ago and suddenly everyone quotes it as gospel truth.

Unfortunately, it's not. What will happen is that you'll get somewhat better at digesting lactose as your gut bacteria learn to partially compensate for your lack of ability to produce lactase enzyme.

If you're only slightly lactose intolerant that might be sufficient. But for many people it would just make a bad health issue into a slightly less bad healthy issue.

Not great when there's a clear and obvious full cure available: don't eat dairy if you can't digest it.

Or maybe lactase enzyme pills. I've tested them for an occasional slice of cheese cake and they seem to work if I get the timing right.

Your body produces lactase, an enzyme that breaks down lactose. People who are lactose intolerant are unable to produce lactase and therefore, unable to break down lactose. Gut bacteria can break down lactose and perhaps if you drink milk all the time, those bacteria proliferate but loactose intolerance is no fun. It's better to just skip milk altogether.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactase

I didn't know I was lactose intolerant for a long time and thought it was some other issue so I kept having dairy daily for well over a year. It never went away.

That seems like a very shitty cure..

But on a more serious note, does that actually work, even if just a bit?

Or you can drink camel milk and then slowly move on to bovine milks.