7. Conclusions

• The Micro H₂ breath hydrogen analyser is reliable and useful for detecting lactose maldigestion.
• Retarding gastric emptying improves tolerance to lactose.
• With the doses used in this study, ingestion of lactose does not affect the production of prostaglandins or nitric oxide, and thus these indicators of inflammation seem not to be connected with the gastrointestinal symptoms of lactose intolerance.
• Continuous ingestion of a large dose of lactose increases the expression and activity of intestinal lactase, at least in rats.
• A need was observed to re-estimate the practical details, such as the temperature of the test solution, in testing tolerance to lactose. The self-diagnosing of lactose intolerance gives unreliable results.