milk sugar

noun

1. lactose.

milk sugar

noun

1. another name for lactose

Word History and Origins

Origin of milk sugar¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Lactose, or milk sugar, is a disaccharide made of two simple sugars – glucose and galactose – in a 1:1 ratio.

Read more on Salon

Lactase enables us to digest the milk sugar lactose, so lactase persistence is useful for a diet involving dairy products.

Read more on Salon

This ability, known as lactase persistence, comes from an enzyme that breaks down milk sugar and usually shuts down after young children are weaned.

Read more on Scientific American

Over the past 10,000 years, populations living far apart in Europe, Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East separately acquired a key genetic change: the ability to digest the milk sugar lactose as adults.

Read more on Science Magazine

Early Europeans may have also lessened the painful effects of milk sugar by fermenting milk into cheese or turning it into butter.

Read more on New York Times