Clinical Importance of Lactase Deficiency

Abstract

Yogurt lovers will be delighted with the intriguing report by Kolars et al. in this issue of the Journal.¹ The authors studied 10 healthy young persons who had lactase deficiency and showed that absorption of 18 g of lactose in yogurt was about 66 per cent better than that of an equivalent amount of lactose in milk. When yogurt was heated to body temperature and sonicated and its pH was raised to neutrality, bacterial lactase was activated; this in vitro effect was demonstrated in duodenal aspirates. Therefore, yogurt was found to "autodigest" lactose — that is, bacterial lactase substitutes . . .