The effect of supplementation of the diet with galactose on the age-related decline of intestinal lactase activity was investigated in 108 growing rats. Starting from 14 days of age, the rats were divided into two groups and fed with chow, and with fluid either as tap water or 5% galactose solution. At 14 days the specific lactase activity was 112.8 +/- 3.2 mumol min-1 (g protein)-1, which decreased to less than 10% of this value at maturity. Galactose supplementation did not prevent the decline. The increase of maltase, sucrase and trehalase was also unaffected. The result suggests that galactose plays no significant role in the regulation of disaccharidase activities in the rat.