Neutralact(R), the DSM brand name of a lactase enzyme preparation, obtained from a homologous rDNA strain of Kluyveromyces lactis, was subjected to a series of toxicological tests to document the safety for use as a processing aid in the dairy industry. The enzyme preparation was examined for subacute oral toxicity and mutagenic potential. As a result of these tests, no evidence of oral toxicit...

This paper argues that a genetic adaptation to the Neolithic Revolution led to differential levels of development in the precolonial era. The ability to digest milk, or to be lactase persistent, is conferred by a gene variant that is unequally distributed across the Old World. Milk provided qualitative and quantitative advantages to the diet that led to differences in the carrying capacities of...

Modeling and optimization were performed to enhance production of lactase through submerged fermentation by Bacillus subtilis VUVD001 using artificial neural networks (ANN) and response surface methodology (RSM). The effect of process parameters namely temperature (°C), pH, and incubation time (h) and their combinational interactions on production was studied in shake flask culture by Box-Behnk...

The persistent expression of lactase into adulthood in humans is a recent genetic adaptation that allows the consumption of milk from other mammals after weaning. In Europe, a single allele (-13910(∗)T, rs4988235) in an upstream region that acts as an enhancer to the expression of the lactase gene LCT is responsible for lactase persistence and appears to have been under strong directional selec...

We measured intestinal safety factors (ratio of a physiological capacity to the load on it) for lactose digestion in developing rat pups. Specifically, we assessed the quantitative relationships between lactose load and the series capacities of lactase and the Na+-glucose cotransporter (SGLT-1). Both capacities increased significantly with age in suckling pups as a result of increasing intestin...

Milk, as the popular slogan goes, does a body good. It contains essential nutrients including fat, protein, sugar, as well as calcium , other minerals, and vitamin D needed for bones. Most people in the world lose the ability to digest lactose, the main sugar in milk, shortly after weaning. For these people, drinking fresh milk can lead to unpleasant bloating, flatulence, and cramps. However, a...

In rodents, the intestinal tract progressively acquires a functional regionalization during postnatal development. Using lactase-phlorizin hydrolase as a marker, we have analyzed in a xenograft model the ontogenic potencies of fetal rat intestinal segments taken prior to endoderm cytodifferentiation. Segments from the presumptive proximal jejunum and distal ileum grafted in nude mice developed ...