Lactose absorption and consumption in Curaçao schoolchildren.
As an initial step to evaluate the school additional-nourishment program, which provides milk to schoolchildren, a study was conducted in the fall of 1984 on 729 black schoolchildren (aged 8-10 y) in Curaçao, for whom lactose consumption and absorption were determined. A food frequency questionnaire was used to determine lactose consumption, and a breath-hydrogen test was used to determine lactose absorption after a physiological load of 0.5 g lactose/kg body wt was administered in the form of standardized irradiated whole milk. An increase in breath-hydrogen of 20 ppm indicated lactose malabsorption; 14% of the children were malabsorbers of lactose. No relationship was found between lactose malabsorption and lactose consumption, as estimated from the questionnaire. Possible reasons for the lower-than-expected prevalence of lactose malabsorption in this population are the use of a physiological dose of lactose, and the fact that this population is well nourished and free from significant parasitism and other endemic diseases.
Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
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D000042:Absorption; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet; D006801:Humans; D006859:Hydrogen; D007785:Lactose / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D009427:Netherlands Antilles; D012119:Respiration
D006859:Hydrogen; D007785:Lactose