1,256 malnourished children, aged seven to ten years, were selected for study, 575 from Kuala Langat, 416 from Wilayah Persekutuan and 265 from Ulu Selangor. Ninety-three percent of the children were from low socioeconomic groups with large family size, and most of their parents had only primary or no formal education. During the study period, children in Kuala Langat received daily milk supplementation for five days per week, those in Wilayah Persekutuan for two days per week, while those in Ulu Selangor did not receive any milk supplementation. The study shows that a majority of the malnourished primary school children liked to drink milk and that milk intolerance was not a problem among them.
Prevalence of adult-type hypolactasia is known to vary among different countries and in different ethnic populations in the same country. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of hypolactasia and lactose intolerance in three different ethnic populations living in similar environmental conditions in Malaysia. The correlation between different symptoms and lactose intolerance test was also studied.