BACKGROUND Fructose malabsorption is characterized by the inability to absorb fructose efficiently. As a consequence fructose reaches the colon where it is broken down by bacteria to short fatty acids, CO2, H2, CH4 and lactic acid. Bloating, cramps, osmotic diarrhea and other symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome are the consequence and can be seen in about 50% of fructose malabsorbers. Recently...

Background: β-thalassemia minor is characterized by reduced β-haemoglobin chain synthesis and sometimes mild anaemia, although carriers of β-thalassemia minorare usually clinically asymptomatic.Nonspecific abdominal complaints may be caused by gastrointestinal carbohydrate malabsorption (lactose and fructose) and/or malabsorption of biogenic amines (histamine), or proteins (gluten). Objectives:...

Malabsorption of oral antimycobacterial drugs is a rare cause of treatment failure in tuberculosis (TB). Several predisposing comorbidities have been recognised. HIV infection is the most important risk factor referred in the literature. There are few reports about antimycobacterial drugs malabsorption, particularly in the absence of predisposing comorbidities. The authors present a clinical ca...

In developed societies nutritional deficiencies are often due to malabsorption. Most causes of malabsorption are related to one or more of the following: (I) mucosal damage, (2) bile salt deficiency, (3) stagnant loop (blind loop) syndrome, (4) deficiency of digestive enzymes, (5) operations on the gastrointestinal tract, (6) transport defects. More than one mechanism may be operative in some o...

The deleterious effect of fructose, which is increasingly incorporated in many beverages, dairy products, and processed foods, has been described; fructose malabsorption has thus been reported in up to 2.4% of healthy subjects, leading to digestive clinical symptoms (eg, pain, distension, diarrhea). Because digestive involvement is frequent in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), we hypothes...

The time of breath hydrogen appearance (T) after oral lactulose was determined in 98 patients in London who had been to the tropics. Fifty-six controls from three different ethnic groups had no evidence of gastrointestinal disease; 23 had tropical malabsorption, which was severe in 10; and 19 had chronic diarrhoea without malabsorption. Mean T was significantly delayed in patients with tropical...

Incomplete intestinal absorption of fructose might lead to abdominal complaints such as pain, flatulence and diarrhoea. Whether defect fructose transporters such as GLUT5 or GLUT2 are involved in the pathogenesis of fructose malabsorption is a matter of debate. The hydrogen production by colonic bacteria is used for diagnosis with the hydrogen breath test. However, the appropriate fructose test...

paper chromatography for sugar, were studied and the role of each in making the diagnosis was assessed. The demonstration of an abnormal amount (> J %) of reducing substances in the stools was confirmed to be a valuable screening test for sugar malabsorption. Stool chromatography was useful in diagnosing the type of sugar malabsorption present, but estimation of stoolpH proved to be an unreliab...

The major purpose of this research was to gain insight into the effect of carbohydrate malabsorption on fecal water output. To do this we measured daily fecal output of total carbohydrate, reducing sugars, and organic acids (a product of bacterial fermentation). Normal subjects were studied in their native state and when diarrhea was induced by mechanisms that did and did not involve carbohydra...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of lactose malabsorption and its association with skin color and age in children and teenagers attending public schools in Porto Alegre, Brazil. METHODS A cross-sectional study was performed with 225 subjects between 8 and 18 years attending two public schools in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Patients were randomly selected. Subjects were classified according to ...