Distributions and Incidences of Elementary School Children with Lactose Intolerance Symptoms after Drinking Milk in Korea

Abstract

Milk contains a number of nutrients required for human growth and development, such as disaccharide lactose which is significantly contained in milk and dairy products. About two thirds of world populations are reportedly suffering from lactose intolerance after drinking milk. Lactose intolerance is defined as a maldigestion of lactose in the human intestine with typical symptoms of abdominal pains, bloating, and diarrhea. In this study, incidence of lactose intolerance has been investigated for the elementary school children for 1 year from July, 2010 to June, 2011. It is found that about 70% of the total elementary students have joined the school milk program. Out of 636 total students that participated in this study, 449 were from the metropolis, 85 from middle-sized city, and 102 from the small town including rural areas (small town/rural areas). For distributions of lactose intolerance, 154 students (24.2%) were found to be positive among the total 636 subjects. Based on the size of the city, the symptoms were the most prevalent for the students in the small town/rural areas at 31.4% (32/102), followed by 30.6% (26/85) in middle-sized city, and 21.4% (96/449) in the metropolis. On the other hand, gender had no significant effect on the incidence of lactose intolerance, shown those for boys and girls were 24.8% (77/310), 23.6% (77/326), respectively. Further research is needed to confirm the correct incidence of lactose intolerance symptoms as the frequency is significantly affected by subject's digestive functions including irritable bowel syndrome.