Whipple's disease: Alcian blue with apparently eosin counterstain enlarged villus with many macrophages
Specialty
Gastroenterology
Complications
Malnutrition; anaemia; steatorrhoea; diarrhoea
Causes
Coeliac disease; short bowel syndrome; lactase deficiency; exocrine pancreatic insufficiency; small intestinal bacterial overgrowth; Whipple's disease; genetic diseases; certain medications[1]
Treatment
Depends on cause
Malabsorption is a state arising from abnormality in absorption of food nutrients across the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Impairment can be of single or multiple nutrients depending on the abnormality. This may lead to malnutrition and a variety of anaemias.[1]
Normally the human gastrointestinal tract digests and absorbs dietary nutrients with remarkable efficiency. A typical Western diet ingested by an adult in one day includes approximately 100 g of fat, 400 g of carbohydrate, 100 g of protein, 2 L of fluid, and the required sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, vitamins, and other elements. [citation needed] Salivary, gastric, intestinal, hepatic, and pancreatic secretions add an additional 7–8 L of protein-, lipid-, and electrolyte-containing fluid to intestinal contents. This massive load is reduced by the small and large intestines to less than 200 g of stool that contains less than 8 g of fat, 1–2 g of nitrogen, and less than 20 mmol each of Na+, K+, Cl–, HCO3–, Ca2+, or Mg2+.
If there is impairment of any of the many steps involved in the complex process of nutrient digestion and absorption, intestinal malabsorption may ensue. If the abnormality involves a single step in the absorptive process, as in primary lactase deficiency, or if the disease process is limited to the very proximal small intestine, then selective malabsorption of only a single nutrient may occur. However, generalized malabsorption of multiple dietary nutrients develops when the disease process is extensive, thus disturbing several digestive and absorptive processes, as occurs in coeliac disease with extensive involvement of the small intestine.[1]
^ abc"Malabsorption Syndrome". MedlinePlus. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
Malabsorption is a state arising from abnormality in absorption of food nutrients across the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Impairment can be of single...
Fructose malabsorption, formerly named dietary fructose intolerance (DFI), is a digestive disorder in which absorption of fructose is impaired by deficient...
Bile acid malabsorption (BAM), known also as bile acid diarrhea, is a cause of several gut-related problems, the main one being chronic diarrhea. It has...
gastrointestinal problems such as chronic diarrhoea, abdominal distention, malabsorption, loss of appetite, and among children failure to grow normally. Non-classic...
extraordinarily high intake of dairy products. In persons who have fructose malabsorption, excess fructose intake can also cause diarrhea. High-fructose foods...
throughout the day. Worldwide, around 65% of adults are affected by lactose malabsorption. Other mammals usually lose the ability to digest lactose after weaning...
which reduces micelle formation, and small intestinal disease-producing malabsorption. Various other causes include certain medicines that block fat absorption...
They are used in the treatment of chronic diarrhea due to bile acid malabsorption. Bile acid sequestrants are polymeric compounds that serve as ion-exchange...
Tropical sprue is a malabsorption disease commonly found in tropical regions, marked with abnormal flattening of the villi and inflammation of the lining...
disease, microscopic colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, bile acid malabsorption, and colon cancer. Treatment of IBS is carried out to improve symptoms...
intestine bacterial overgrowth and carbohydrate malabsorption, such as lactose, fructose, and sorbitol malabsorption. The test is simple, non-invasive, and is...
absorbed directly into the blood. A deficiency of sucrase may result in malabsorption of sugar, which can lead to potentially serious symptoms. Since sucrase-isomaltase...
In medicine, the fecal fat test is a diagnostic test for fat malabsorption conditions, which lead to excess fat in the feces (steatorrhea). In the duodenum...
selectively targets mature enterocytes in the small intestine, causing malabsorption, as well as inducing secretion of water. It has also been observed to...
Colestyramine is commonly used to treat diarrhea resulting from bile acid malabsorption. It was first used for this in Crohn's disease patients who had undergone...
nausea, bloating, vomiting, diarrhea, malnutrition, weight loss and malabsorption, which is caused by a number of mechanisms. The diagnosis of bacterial...
Hereditary folate malabsorption (HFM) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by loss-of-function mutations in the proton-coupled folate transporter...
Blue diaper syndrome is a rare, autosomal recessive or X linked recessive metabolic disorder characterized in infants by bluish urine-stained diapers....
movements and hypotonia. Vitamin B12 deficiency is most commonly caused by malabsorption, but can also result from low intake, immune gastritis, low presence...
Short bowel syndrome (SBS, or simply short gut) is a rare malabsorption disorder caused by a lack of functional small intestine. The primary symptom is...
low result on the second test implies abnormal intestinal absorption (malabsorption), which could be caused by coeliac disease, biliary disease, Whipple's...
be largely grouped into three categories: inadequate caloric intake, malabsorption/caloric retention defect, and increased metabolic demands. Endogenous...
of cholestyramine in symptomatic chronic diarrhea due to bile salt malabsorption (bile acid diarrhea), which can be a primary condition, or secondary...
fibrosis, and short bowel syndrome, which can all produce problems of malabsorption. Vitamin D deficiency is also more common after surgical procedures...
Fructose (/ˈfrʌktoʊs, -oʊz/), or fruit sugar, is a ketonic simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide...
older people who live alone. Other risk factors include intestinal malabsorption and dialysis. While many animals produce their own vitamin C, humans...
as in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and other diseases of malabsorption without mucosal erosions as in Celiac disease. Eosinophilic gastritis...
smear of a blood sample). Vitamin B12 deficiency: Achlorhydria-induced malabsorption Deficient intake Deficient intrinsic factor, a molecule produced by...
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