Sugar intolerance in malnourished infants and children.

Of 100 malnourished Indian infants and children 50 showed a stool pH below 6. Carbohydrate-loading tests demonstrated intolerance to lactose in 39, to sucrose in 25, and to maltose in 15. D-Xylose absorption was reduced in 16. Steatorrhoea was detected in 7 of 18 children tested. Nutritional recovery reversed the abnormalities in all except four, in whom a primary enzymic deficiency was considered on the basis of persistent lactose intolerance and a positive family history.