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At Georgia Southern University, we offer a sophomore-level introductory biochemistry course that is aimed at nutrition and chemistry education majors. The laboratory portion of this course has long lacked an experimental introduction to enzymes. We have developed a simple enzyme assay utilizing lactase enzyme from crushed LactAid tablets and a 5% lactose solution ("synthetic milk"). In the experiment, the students assay the activity of the enzyme on the "synthetic milk" at pHs of approximately 1, 6, and 8 with the stated goal of determining where lactose functions in the digestive tract. The activity of the lactase may be followed chromatographically or spectrophotometrically. The experiment, which is actually a simple pH assay, is easily implemented in allied health chemistry laboratory courses and readily lends itself to adaptation for more complex kinetic assays in upper-level biochemistry laboratory courses. The experimental details, including a list of required supplies and hints for implementation, are provided.

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Recently in this Journal, we published a laboratory experiment called "Ripening Bananas: What Is Happening and Can We Control It?" that is used in our nutritional biochemistry course, taken by students who are majoring in nutrition, not in chemistry or biology (1). While our students enjoy this experiment and have had much success with it, we decided to create an experiment that is more "user friendly" for these inexperienced laboratory students. Over the counter glucose test strips have been incorporated into this experiment similar to Melton's note published in this Journal (2).