The authors assessed the clavicular corticodiaphyseal indexes in 167 patients after partial gastrectomy and follow-up on a long-term basis. The results are compared with findings in healthy controls. When the gastrectomy group was divided into two subgroups with regard to milk (lactose) tolerance, a significant difference was found between the two groups.The findings suggest that the width of the cortical layer of the clavicle in subjects with lactose intolerance declines significantly more rapidly than in subjects of similar age without intolerance. The values of bone indexes in subjects without lactose intolerance were on an average higher than the values in controls, while the values of the group with lactose intolerance are significantly lower and the difference as compared with controls increases with advancing age. It may thus be assumed that in patients, after partial gastrectomy, lactose intolerance participates to a considerable extent in the development of osteopenia.
The authors compared by X-ray the passage of a milk containing lactose with that of a lactose-free milk in subjects after partial gastrectomy who, after operation, developed milk intolerance. In the X-ray picture of subjects with a lower mucosal lactase level, typical differences between the two passages are found. The main difference is that the gastric stump is unable to slow down the milk supply sufficiently to the small intestine and, thus, as a result of the lower mucosal lactase level, the relative lactase insufficiency becomes manifest. During the fractionated administration of the lactose containing milk mixture the X-ray intolerance changes disappear. When the X-ray pictures after both milk mixtures do not differ, milk intolerance has obviously another cause than lactose maldigestion.
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