Lactose-Free Compared with Lactose-Containing Formula in Dietary Management of Acute Childhood Diarrhea

Objective: few reports are available on some benefits, such as shortened duration of diarrhea and better weight gain, for lactose-free over lactose-containing formula in acute childhood diarrhea. we evaluated the effects of lactose-free formula in dietary management of acute diarrhea in formula-fed children.methods: this controlled-clinical trial was conducted on formula-fed children, aged 1 to 24 months, referring with acute non-bloody diarrhea (£2 weeks). those who had major systemic illness, severe malnutrition, severe dehydration, severe vomiting, or history of antibiotic therapy were not included. children were allocated to receive lactose-free formula (intervention, n=37) or lactose-containing formula (control, n=34).time to diarrhea relief and weight change were compared between the two groups after one week.findings: during the study, 32 male and 39 female children (7.1±3.7 months) were included. those who received lactose-free formula had a significantly shorter time to diarrhea relief compared with the controls (1.7±0.7 vs.2.6±0.7 days, p<0.001). weight significantly increased in both groups, but there was no difference between the two groups in weight change (37±100 vs.38±77 gr, p=0.673).multivariate analysis showed that receiving lactose-free formula significantly predicted time to diarrhea relief (95% ci: 1.5 to 3.9, p<0.001) controlling for baseline characteristics.conclusion: early administration of lactose-free formula for formula-fed children presenting with acute diarrhea can result in a more rapid relief of acute diarrhea and thus perhaps less mortality and morbidity.trials with longer follow-ups are warranted to better evaluate long-term results such as weight change and feeding problems in this regard