Lactose absorption by postweaning rats from yogurt, quarg, and quarg whey.

Lactose-intolerant postweaning rats were fed experimental diets including yogurt, quargs prepared from yogurt culture and buttermilk culture, and two types of whey obtained from quarg processing. After feeding each diet for a period of 7 d, absence of blood glucose elevation and occurrence of diarrhea were used as indicators of lactose malabsorption. Blood glucose assays and absence of diarrhea indicated that yogurt and quargs prepared from yogurt and buttermilk culture were well tolerated by the rats. Wheys containing the same levels of viable organisms and lactose as the quargs caused severe symptoms of diarrhea and poor lactose absorption as indicated by no changes in blood glucose levels. Plate counts and enzyme assays of gastrointestinal contents confirmed presence of viable culture organisms and beta-galactosidase activity after feeding the two types of quarg. The availability of viable organisms, the exogenous lactase activity, and especially the slow gastric emptying may all have contributed to more efficient hydrolysis and digestion of lactose from quargs and yogurt than from the wheys.