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In contrast, 15 of 20 non-white adults were lactase deficient. Lactase deficiency was found in only three of 36 patients investigated because of diarrhoea after gastric surgery, and in 16 of 200 patients with irritable bowel syndrome (8%). As the prevalence of lactase deficiency is no higher in irritable bowel syndrome than in 'normal' individuals, lactase deficiency clearly is not a predisposing factor for irritable bowel syndrome in white British adults although the two conditions may occasionally coexist.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/gut.25.2.163","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,9,18]],"date-time":"2007-09-18T17:41:31Z","timestamp":1190137291000},"page":"163-167","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":38,"title":["Prevalence of lactase deficiency in British adults."],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"25","author":[{"given":"A","family":"Ferguson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"D M","family":"MacDonald","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"W G","family":"Brydon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1984,2,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"11","article-title":"The regional and ethnic distribution of lactose malabsorption. 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