Effect of Maillard reaction products on carbohydrate utilization—Studies in vitro and in vivo

The effect of Maillard reaction products on the digestion of carbohydrates was studied. Low molecular weight compounds from a glucose—lysine model reaction mixture were weak competitive inhibitors of lactase, invertase, maltase and trehalase in vitro, when tested at concentrations of 5–10 mg/ml. High molecular weight compounds from the reaction mixture were strong inhibitors of the same disaccharidases at considerably lower concentrations (1·4–2·8 mg/ml). However, when fed to growing rats in amounts up to 40 mg, the high molecular weight compounds failed to reduce the uptake of intubated lactose or sucrose. α-Amylase was not at all affected.