Lactic acid is produced in varying amounts by most living
tissues as a normal metabolic intermediate. The lactate turnover
rate in man has been estimated to be of the order of 2g per kg
per day. An additional load of up to 1 mg per kg per day of
lactic acid as the free acid or as calcium lactate contained in
commercially prepared food commodities would not appreciably
modify the normal metabolic processes. None of the limited
toxicity data available raises any suspicion of adverse effects
in adults at doses orders of magnitude above the estimated
levels of human consumption. There is no indication that the per
capita intake of lactate from processed foods will be
substantially increased in the foreseeable future. There is no
evidence of potential toxicity of the L-isomer for individuals
of any age. However, premature infants fed formulas acidified
with DL-lactic acid (or, in one instance, D(-) lactic acid),
have reported to develop metabolic acidosis and growth
retardation. Results of studies of full-term inf