title: Sub chronic toxicity studies of lactulose in rats.
abstract: Lactulose has profound health benefits by way of increasing bifidobacterial flora in the intestine of infants thereby protecting them against enteric infection, constipation and systemic encephalopathy. In the present study to assess the sub chronic toxicity of lactulose syrup, the rats were fed on a basal feed supplemented with lactulose syrup at 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 5.0% for a period of 21 weeks. Monitoring of food consumption, gain in body weight and physical observations did not reveal any treatment-related toxicity in any of the group of rats. Terminal autopsy also did not reveal any signs of toxicity. Further, no significant alterations in relative organ weight, serum biochemistry and urinalysis were observed up to 1% lactulose supplementation level. The results suggest that supplementation of lactulose in the diet does not produce any toxicity at the doses tested.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore 570 013, India.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Baskaran
authors.forename: K N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Murthy
authors.lastname: Mahadevamma
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vishwanatha
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Lokesh
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis; D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000633:toxicity; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D007792:Lactulose / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012449:Safety; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D007792:Lactulose