lactose or milk sugar, white crystalline disaccharide (see carbohydrate). It has the same empirical formula (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁) as sucrose (cane sugar) and maltose but differs from both in structure (see isomer). It yields the simple sugars D-glucose and D-galactose on hydrolysis, which is catalyzed by lactase, an enzyme found in gastric juice. People who lack this enzyme after childhood cannot digest milk and are said to be lactose intolerant. Lactose is formed in the mammary glands of all lactating animals and is present in their milk. It is produced commercially as a byproduct of milk processing. When milk sours, the lactose in it is converted by bacteria to lactic acid. Lactose is less sweet-tasting than sucrose and is not found in plants.

Slightly sweet sugar (disaccharide) composed of two monosaccharides, glucose and galactose, linked together. Lactose-intolerant adults, and more rarely infants, cannot digest lactose because they lack the enzyme (lactase) that splits it into simpler sugars and suffer diarrhea and bloating when they eat foods containing it. Lactose, which makes up 2–8percnt of the milk of mammals, is the only common sugar of animal origin. Commercial lactose is obtained from whey, a liquid by-product of cheese. It is used in foods, in pharmaceuticals, and in nutrient broths used to produce penicillin, yeast, and riboflavin, and other products.

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Lactose (also referred to as milk sugar) is a sugar which is found most notably in milk. Lactose makes up around 2–8% of milk (by weight). The name comes from the Latin word for milk, plus the -ose ending used to name sugars. Its systematic name is β-D-galactopyranosyl-(1↔4)β-D-glucopyranose.

Chemistry

Lactose is a disaccharide that consists of β-D-galactose and β-D-glucose fragments bonded through a β1-4 glycosidic linkage.

Solubility

Lactose has a solubility of 1 in 4.63 measured %w/v. This translates to 0.216 g of lactose dissolving readily in 1 mL of water.

The solubility of lactose in water is 18.9049 g at 25°C, 25.1484 g at 40°C and 37.2149 g at 60°C per 100 g solution. Its solubility in ethanol is 0.0111 g at 40°C and 0.0270 g at 60°C per 100 g solution.

Digestion of lactose

Infant mammals are fed on milk by their mothers. To digest it an enzyme called lactase (β-D-galactosidase) is secreted by the intestinal villi, and this enzyme cleaves the molecule into its two subunits glucose and galactose for absorption.

Since lactose occurs mostly in milk, in most mammals the production of lactase gradually decreases with maturity.

Many people with ancestry in Europe, the Middle East, India, or parts of East Africa, maintain normal lactase production into adulthood. In many of these cultures, mammals such as cattle, goats, and sheep are milked for food. Hence, it was in these regions that genes for lifelong lactase production first evolved. The genes of lactose tolerance have evolved independently in various ethnic groups.

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