Significance of lactase deficit in ulcerative colitis.

Abstract

Abstract Disaccharidase assays on biopsies of the small intestine from 32 male patients with ulcerative colitis revealed lactase deficiency in 46 per cent of them, a significantly higher incidence than in control patients. Flat blood sugar curves and diarrhea occurred with 100 Gm. lactose tolerance tests in the patients with low intestinal lactase values; normal curves and no diarrhea were the usual result with normal lactase. All 6 patients in the first year of symptoms had a lactase deficit. With repeated biopsies, lactase rose in 3 patients with clinical improvement and decreased in 2 in whom symptoms became worse. In double blind feeding trials with 50 or 100 Gm. of sugar daily in 18 patients, lactose did not increase symptoms more frequently than glucose. The occurrence of symptoms during the feeding of sugar was not influenced by the presence or absence of lactase deficit.