Lactose intolerance in infants: harder to investigate now following discontinuation of Clinitest

In July 2010 Clinitest tablets were withdrawn from the market by Bayer. This commercial quantitative Benedict's reagent test has been used since 1964 for the diagnosis of lactose intolerance in children with diarrhoea.1 It is a non-specific test for the presence of reducing sugars. Clinically significant lactose intolerance has conventionally been determined when stool-reducing sugars are ≥0.5%.2 In recent years Clinitest has been complemented by chromatography to identify the reducing sugar present as lactose. Clinitest can be done rapidly and as a near patient test, allowing therapeutic decisions regarding withdrawal of lactose from the diet. Following the discontinuation of Clinitest we were …