The Intestinal Microbiome in Children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Lactose Malabsorption

Recommendations to remove lactose from the diets of children with inflammatory bowel disease persist with speculation that potential deleterious effects are mediated through intestinal microbes. To assess the impact of lactose malabsorption effects on disease characteristics and the intestinal microbiome, we evaluated children with Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis with and without lactose malabsorption. Lactose malabsorption was determined by hydrogen breath testing in children 8-17 years of age diagnosed with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis based on established criteria. The intestinal microbiome of mucosal luminal aspirates was profiled at the time of diagnosis using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing of the V6 hypervariable region.