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Lactose digestion in pregnant African-Americans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

David M Paige ,
Frank R Witter ,
Yvonne L Bronner ,
Lisa A Kessler ,
Jay A Perman  and
Tara R Paige
David M Paige*
Affiliation:
Department of Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, Room 280, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Frank R Witter
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA
Yvonne L Bronner
Affiliation:
Maternal and Child Health Department, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
Lisa A Kessler
Affiliation:
Maternal and Child Health Department, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
Jay A Perman
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Tara R Paige
Affiliation:
Maternal and Child Health Department, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Underwood Memorial Hospital, Woodbury, NJ, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Email dpaige@jhsph.edu
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Abstract

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Objective:

This paper reports on the status of lactose digestion during early and late pregnancy and at 8 weeks postpartum in an African-American population. The hypothesis is that lactose digestion and milk tolerance do not change throughout pregnancy anddo not differ from those of non-pregnant African-American women.

Design and subjects:

This longitudinal study determined lactose digestion after ingesting 240 ml of 1% fat milk containing 12g of lactose at: (1) early pregnancy, prior to 16 weeks (n = 148); (2) late pregnancy, 30–35 weeks (n = 77); and (3) 8 weeks postpartum (n = 93). One hundred and one comparably matched non-pregnant African-American women served as controls.

Results:

Prevalence of lactose digestion, as measured by breath hydrogen, was 80.2% in the control women, 66.2% in early pregnancy, 68.8% in late pregnancy and 75.3% postpartum. The prevalence of women reporting symptoms was approximately 20% regardless of lactose absorption status. However, the control women reported significantly more symptoms than did the pregnant women.

Conclusions:

This study indicates that there is no significant change in lactose digestion during pregnancy. The prevalence of lactose intolerance for the pregnant African-American women studied is similar to that for non-pregnant African-American women and similar to previous prevalence reports in adult African-Americans. There was no change in the tolerance of lactose noted during pregnancy in these women. There were, however, fewer symptoms reported by the lactose-maldigesting pregnant women.

Keywords

LactoseLactose digestionLactose maldigestionPregnancyAfrican-American women
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 6 , Issue 8 , December 2003 , pp. 801 - 807
Copyright
Copyright © CAB International 2003

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