Lactose

Lactose is a disaccharide sugar having chemical formula C12H22O11 and it is composed of galactose and glucose. Lactose is a part of human diet since origin of human. It is present in the milk around 2-8 %, its name comes from latin word lac which is used for milk. It is present in many foods as well like bread and baked foods, candies, cereal bars, rice, noodles; cheese flavored crackers and many other snacks.
Lactose is basically a large sugar molecule which is made up of two small sugar molecules, glucose and galactose. It is very important component of breast milk and dairy products. It is being used widely in pharmacological applications. While lactose intolerance is not completely understood in medical research.

TECHNICAL DATA
Chemical Structural Formula of Lactose

CAS No. 14641-93-1

• Molecular formula: C12H22O11
• Molecular weight: 342.297 g/mol
• Melting point: 252 °C(anyhydrous), 202 °C(monohydrate)
• Density: 1.525 g/cm3
• appearance: White solid
• synonym:
  alpha-lactose
  Anhydrous lactose
  a-Lactose
  alpha-D-lactose
  β-D-galactopyranosyl-(1→4)-D-glucose
  BRIEF DESCRIPTION AND BENIFITS
  Lactose is necessarily need of human body and it has many benefits, lactose advances the improvement of helpful intestinal microbes like Bifidobacterium bifidum and lactobacilli, while restraining some kind of pathogenic microscopic organisms and endotoxins. Lactose additionally increment protection from intestinal contaminations among babies and kids, and help keep up solid intestinal vegetation.At the point when it is about grown-ups lactose have indicated numerous medical advantages since it has a low glycemic file and just about a fourth of the pleasantness of sucrose. Diets containing low glycemic record food cause a moderate ascent in glucose. Lactose likewise enables the assimilation and maintenance of minerals to like zinc, calcium, magnesium and manganese. These all minerals are required for human body for sound development and advancement particularly in youngsters.

  Moreover lactose in milk has a low glycemic index, which is considered a metabolic benefit. It has a lot of advantages like facilitating mineral absorption, support for human immune system and shaping the intestinal microbiota etc.
  Whenever lactose is not digested by the small intestine, it may be used as a nutrient by the intestinal microbiota, microbiota is the micro organism that live in digestive tract. bacteria produce their own lactase, lactose is digested which results the production of short chain fatty acids (acetate, propionate ,butyrate) and gases (methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen) . Short chain fatty acids serve as energy source for the gut microbiota and systematically after their absorbtion and their transport to deliver. Undigested lactose and other milk sugar contribute also to promote the growth of bi dobactaria, a health positive genus of bacteria. A reduction in bifibobacteria and off marker of the immune function is observed with aging. Lactose, which can then be considered as a prebiotic, may play a lifelong role in countering the aging associated decline of some immune function moreover; regular consumption of food containing lactose could lead to a tolerance by the microbiome. Lactose may also play a vital role in the absorption of calcium and other mineral such as copper and zinc. however, people whose bodies produce less or no lactase or unable to digest lactose, and thereby leave to intestinal bacteria. Bacterial digestion causes formation of hydrogen gas and access fluids in the intestine resulting in cramping, flatulence and diarrhea. Lactose intolerance is a cause of greater risk for reduced bone density and fragility fractures, but by taking lactase supplements you may not only overcome symptoms of lactose intolerance but meet your dietary calcium needs, it will help build and maintain healthy bones while reducing the risk of bone loss and osteoporosis.

  PHARMACEUTICAL USES
  Lactose as an industrial product is used as a filler in pharmaceuticals industries and diluents in tablets and capsules, and to a more limited extent in lyophilized products, infant feed formulas, and a diluents in dry powder inhalations, because it is chemically stable and was thought to be benign in the delivery of medicine. Lactose is widely used as a filler or filler-binder in the manufacture of pharmaceutical tablets and capsules. The cause of lactose popularity in pharmaceutical industries is its cost effectiveness, availability, taste and low hygroscopicity.