Comparison of lactose breath hydrogen test and milk breath hydrogen test in the diagnosis of lactose malabsorption

ABSTRACT

In both clinical and field situations, breath hydrogen analysis has been widely used in evaluating lactose malabsorption. It is as accurate as other tolerance tests and has an advantage of being noninvasive. The use of milk (360 ml) as a test meal for breath hydrogen test was evaluated in 16 adult subjects (8M8F), age ranging from 20 to 50 years. Lactose (17.6 g) breath hydrogen test was used as standard test. Of 16 subjects tested, 5 subjects were found to be lactose absorbers and 11 subjects were lactose malabsorbers by lactose breath hydrogen test. In milk breath hydrogen test, the same 5 subjects were found to be lactose absorbers and 8 out of 11 subjects (lactose malabsorbers) were detected as lactose malabsorbers. The present study demonstrates that breath hydrogen test using milk (360 ml) as a test meal has a sensitivity of 73 per cent and a specificity of 100 per cent and could be used as an alternative test in the diagnosis of lactose malabosorption.