1 Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
2 Center for Studies of Sensory, Impairment, Aging and Metabolism, Guatemala City
To the Editor.
Intestinal lactase activity in childhood can be reduced transiently by several diseases. In developing countries, the most common of these diseases are protein-energy malnutrition and persistent diarrhea. Under these conditions, the use of microbial
-galactosidase for predigestion of dietary lactose is being used as a means of reducing lactose intake while maintaining the quality of the therapeutic diets.
In a report by Penny et al,1 the effects of intact and lactose-hydrolyzed formulas on stool output and nutrient absorption in 63 Peruvian children with >4 days of postenteritis diarrhea were compared.