Tolerance to small amounts of lactose in lactose maldigesters

Abstract

In this study we examined whether small doses of lactose induced symptoms in 39 lactose maldigesters and 15 lactose digesters in a randomized, crossover, double-blind design. The test doses were 200 mL fat-free, lactose-free milk to which 0, 0.5, 1.5, and 7 g lactose was added. Every third day of a lactose-free diet, after an overnight fast, the subjects drank one of the test milks in random order and registered the occurrence and severity of gastrointestinal symptoms in the next 12 h. During the study, the maldigesters reported significantly more abdominal bloating (P = 0.0003) and abdominal pain (P = 0.006) than the digesters. There was no difference in the mean severity of the reported symptoms between the test milks and the lactose-free milk in the group of lactose maldigesters, of whom one-third did not experience any symptoms from any of the test doses. The same proportion (64%) of the maldigesters experienced symptoms after both the lactose-free milk and the milk with 7 g lactose. However, the symptoms occurred inconsistently with the different test doses in 59% of the maldigesters. Thus, it can be concluded that the gastrointestinal symptoms in most lactose maldigesters are not induced by lactose when small amounts (0.5–7.0 g) of lactose are included in the diet.