Lactose Diets and Cholesterol Metabolism

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Abstract
Rats were fed a meal of cholesterol-4-C14 and the cholesterol recovered in thoracic duct lymph during the first 24 hours was studied. The sucros-fed animals absorbed an average of 7.5% of the isotope whereas rats fed a 40% lactose-containing diet absorbed 19.6% of the cholesterol under identical conditions. Analysis of the sterol composition of various segments of the small intestine and of the cecum of cholesterol-fed rats revealed the presence of appreciable amounts of coprostanol in the cecum, fourth and third quarters of the small intestine, and of small but measurable quantities in the first half of the small intestine. The quantity of cholic acid excreted through bile duct fistulas by a group of rats fed sucrose and lactose was found to be an average of 44.2 mg/24 hours and 75.3 mg/24 hours, respectively. The importance of the intestinal flora and the resulting effect on bile acid and cholesterol metabolism is discussed.

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