Effect of Prolonged Galactose Consumption on Galactose Tolerance in Young Healthy Humans

This study was carried out on two groups of healthy young subjects. One group (n = 8) was given a single oral dose of galactose (0.5 g/kg body weight), and a single measurement of blood galactose was made 40 min later. A second group (n = 16) was given a daily supplement of 0.5 g/kg galactose for 15 days, and blood galactose and galactitol were measured. On the first day of the test period, some subjects seemed to tolerate galactose less well than others: galactitol appeared in their plasmas and could be related to a significantly higher galactosaemia than that of subjects without detectable galactitol in the plasma. However, after 15 days of galactose intake, the less galactose-tolerant subjects appeared to have adapted, as indicated by the significant decrease in the blood galactose and the disappearance of galactitol. No change was found in the galactose-tolerant subjects. No significant difference was found between males and females.