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Estimation of the Fraction of the Lactose in a High Lactose Diet Available for Fermentation in the Cecum and Colon of the Rat¹

Departments of Nutritional Sciences and Meat and Animal Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706

Experiments were conducted to determine the amount of lactose which passed into the large intestine and the lactase activity in the small intestine of rats (200 g) fed a control diet or a diet containing 30% lactose. The fraction of lactose consumed in a single 1-hour meal that escaped hydrolysis in the small intestine was estimated by measuring the area under a smooth curve of a plot of lactose: marker ratio in the terminal ileum expressed as a fraction of intake, against the fraction of the total marker that passed into the large intestine. This amounted to approximately 30% and 31.5% of the lactose consumed for the rats fed the control and 30% lactose diets, respectively. In another experiment in which the rats were fed a diet containing 30% lactose and the Cr-EDTA marker ad libitum for 1 week, approximately 43% of the lactose consumed became available for fermentation in the large intestine. This work suggests that a substantial fraction of the lactose ingested is available for fermentation in the large intestine. The lactase activity of homogenates of the small intestine of rats fed the control or high lactose diet was 106 ± 5 or 115 ± 4 mg lactose/30 minutes/rat (P > 0.05), respectively. The lactase activity in the small intestine homogenate (mucosa + contents) was significantly higher than that actually available in vivo (110 ± 7 versus 69 ± 4 mg/30 minutes/rat).

KEY WORDS: • lactase • lactose • lactose fermentation • Cr-EDTA • cecum • colon

¹ Supported in part by Graduate School and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Manuscript received 18 April 1977.