Inositol dehydrogenase (IDH) catalyzes the oxidation of myo-inositol to scyllo-inosose using NAD+ as the coenzyme. IDH-related genes (Lp_iolG1 to Lp_iolG4) from Lactobacillus plantarum WCSF1 and (Lc_iolG1 and Lc_iolG2) from Lactobacillus casei BL23 were cloned into the vector pQE-80L, expressed in E. coli host cells and the proteins were purified to homogeneity. IDH activity of the purified enzymes was explored with myo-inositol and other structurally related compounds. It was found that IDH-related enzymes from L. plantarum WCSF1 did not exhibit any activity with tested substrates but, LcIDH1 and LcIDH2 from L. casei BL23 showed activity with myo-inositol and other related compounds. pH-rate profile studies have demonstrated the optimum pH for the reactions catalyzed by the active enzymes. Steady-state kinetics of the active enzymes was performed as with IDH from Bacillus subtilis (BsIDH), revealing that LcIDH1 is a myo-inositol dehydrogenase and LcIDH2 is a scyllo-inositol dehydrogenase. Both LcIDH1 and LcIDH2 are observed to be NAD+-dependent. Kinetic isotopic effect experiments for LcIDH1 have demonstrated that the chemical step in the reaction is partly rate-limiting. Substrate spectrum of LcIDH1 and LcIDH2 was explored and compared to BsIDH. Finally, a multiple sequence alignment of IDH-related enzymes was performed and the proposed consensus sequence motifs were considered to understand the activity differences between these enzymes.