Lactose intolerance among severely malnourished children with diarrhoea admitted to the nutrition unit, Mulago hospital, Uganda

Abstract
Lactose intolerance is a common complication of diarrhoea in infants with malnutrition and a cause of treatment failure. A combination of nutritional injury and infectious insults in severe protein energy malnutrition reduces the capacity of the intestinal mucosa to produce lactase enzyme necessary for the digestion of lactose.