Reinvestigation of lactose intolerant children: lack of correlation between continuing lactose intolerance and small intestinal morphology, disaccharidase activity, and lactose tolerance tests.

Thirty children on a lactose-free diet aged from 2-38 months who had previously been diagnosed as having secondary lactose intolerance were reinvestigated on 32 occasions by an oral lactose tolerance test, small intestinal biopsy, and measurement of disaccharidase activity in order to detect the presence of continuing lactose intolerance before reintroduction of milk. No correlation was found between continuing lactose intolerance, as diagnosed by the development of watery stools containing excess reducing substances after an oral load of lactose, and maximum blood glucose rise during a lactose tolerance test, lactase levels, and small intestinal morphology.