Effect of dietary lactose on salt-mediated changes in mineral metabolism and bone composition in the rat

The effects of salt (sodium chloride) supplementation of rat diets (80 g/kg diet), with or without lactose (150 g/kg), were studied in weanling rats over 14 d. Dietary salt increased water intake and reduced weight gain and food conversion efficiency, but these variables were unaffected by lactose. Salt-supplemented rats exhibited a three- to fivefold increase in urinary calcium excretion and a small increase in urinary magnesium and phosphorus excretion, irrespective of dietary lactose content. In addition, salt supplementation reduced plasma alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1) activity. Lactose increased urinary Ca and Mg excretion and plasma Ca and P concentrations. Salt reduced tibia mass but not tibia mass expressed relative to body-weight, but neither variable was affected by lactose. Both tibia Mg content and concentration were reduced by salt but unaffected by lactose, and neither tibia P content nor concentration was affected by salt or lactose. Tibia Ca content was reduced by salt but this was prevented by lactose. Tibia Ca concentration was unaffected by salt or lactose, although there was a reduction (not significant) in tibia Ca concentration in animals fed on the lactose-free diet. These results show that lactose had no independent effect on bone and that reduced accretion of bone mass and mineral content in rats fed on the high-salt diets was due, at least in part, to reduced growth. Failure to offset sodium-induced hypercalciuria by a compensatory increase in net Ca absorption may have contributed to reduced bone Ca accretion. The protective effect of lactose against reduced bone Ca accretion may be due to increased Ca absorption.