A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Alpha and Beta Lactose in the Control of Intestinal Reaction. ∗

Abstract

The reaction of the intestinal contents and its control has assumed increasing importance during recent years with the growing realization that acidity and alkalinity are important factors in the digestion and absorption of food and in the progress of various pathological conditions of the intestinal tract. With this knowledge has come an increased interest in the factors influencing the reaction and the methods for their control. One of us 1 has published data indicating that there is a certain constancy about the reactions of the various sections of the intestine which have the appearance of physiological constants and which the body strives to maintain. Unpublished results have confirmed this and demonstrate a rather efficient mechanism for the accomplishment of this end. Apparently changes of long duration are difficult to maintain. The only method whose effectiveness has been adequately demonstrated is that of increasing the acidity by the administration of large amounts of lactose. Several studies have been made of this process, 2 3

Presumably it depends on the alteration of the intestinal flora in such a way that the acid-producing organisms predominate and by the production of lactic acid produce their effects. Lactose, and to a lesser extent dextrine, are the only 2 substances which accomplish this. Most of the results have been secured on carnivorous or on omnivorous animals like the dog, cat and rat. The ordinary alpha lactose has always been used.

It occurred to us that in an herbivorous animal with a longer intestinal tract the effects of lactose feeding should be emphasized by the longer time required for the passage of material through the gut. It was also thought that beta lactose, whose nutritional status has become of interest since processes for its manufacture have made it available might, because of its greater solubility, be less effective than the alpha form.