Increased activity of rat intestinal lactase due to increased intake of alpha-saccharides (starch, sucrose) in isocaloric diets.

The adaptability of intestinal microvillar alpha-disaccharidases to the variation of alpha-saccharide content in the diets is well established, but the influence of these sugars on the activity of microvillar lactase (neutral beta-galactosidase) has heretofore been considered negligible or non-existing. In two experiments rats were fed isocaloric diets where the carbohydrate (starch or sucrose) content versus fat content was varied. (High carbohydrate diets: 71% of calories as carbohydrate and 5% of calories as fat; low carbohydrate diets: 6 and 73% calories, respectively). Experiment 1: male and female rats had access to experimental diets only from day 12 postnatally and were killed at age 56 days. Experiment 2: male rats were fed experimental diets starting on day 73 postnatally and killed 3, 7, 14 and 28 days later. Rats fed the high carbohydrate diets exhibited a significant increase in activity (specific and total per segment) of lactase in all three intestinal segments compared to rats fed the low carbohydrate diets. Changes in the activity of sucrase and maltase paralleled those of lactase activity. These experiments have thus demonstrated clearly the influence of variation in alpha-saccharide content in the diet upon lactase activity. Further experiments are needed to determine the active principle of this dietary adaptation.