Malabsorption and Deficiency Disease

The Symptoms of Intestinal Malabsorption

In malabsorption, some abdominal pain is common and constant. People with malabsorption experience a little cramping before a bowel movement. Bloating and flatus will occur particularly in those patients with intestinal mucosa cell lesions. The bacterial flora sours the non absorbed carbohydrates of food, producing gases, the origin of bloating and flatus. If the malabsorption is not severe and the appetite sufficient, a higher food intake may compensate in part for the lower absorption. Malabsorption in one of the few conditions in which weight loss can occur despite hyperphagia (abundant food intake). Some people with malabsorption present diarrhea. Diarrhea in toddlers and children should focus attention on the condition of their intestin. As far as intestinal malabsorption is concerned, the main problem is the diagnosis. Malabsorption is dramatically under diagnosed. For more information Return to Articles menu page

The Consequences of Intestinal Malabsorption

Larger than normal stool mass, abdominal pain, bloating and flatus are the first symptoms of malabsorption. Should malabsorption endure, other symptoms will develop, related to the gravity and the duration of the various deficiencies caused by malabsorption of food and of vitamins and minerals.

Examples Here are a few examples of the health conditions triggered by the various deficiencies that may result from malabsorption; Iron deficiency causes anemia in up to 20% of patients with malabsorption. Iron deficiency results in anemia by reducing the supply of hemoglobin, the oxygen transporting pigment of our red blood cells. Zinc deficiency deprives you amid other things from your taste by blocking the synthesis of specific components in the taste cells. Since malabsorption reduces the supply of foliates the resulting foliate deficiency will cause abnormal growth of the red blood cells. During their maturation some of the cells will become macrocytic Vitamin B12 will also be less absorbed. Vitamin B12 deficiency occurs late, where it may take up to 5 years to deplete the body store of vitamin B12. It should be noted that vitamin B12 is the only vitamin where body store of it can last that long. In malabsorption, the lesions from the mucosa cells of the intestine may be associated with protein leakage. As a result of protein deprivation, Edema from the lower extremities may follow. Because of malabsorption of calcium and resulting calcium deficiency in bones, bone pain, osteoporosis, bone fragility and spontaneous fracture may occur. Calcium is absorbed throughout the length of the small intestine, but like iron and foliate, more avidly in the proximal section, the most damaged part of the intestine in malabsorption. Other factors than calcium may be involved in bone lesions caused by malabsorption, as a boron deficiency caused by the same malabsorption of minerals.

develops in patients with years of relatively mild malabsorption. In fat malabsorption, fatty acids remain in the intestin. Calcium, as a divalent cation, combines with fatty acids to form insoluble soaps. Vitamin B group deficiency alters the function of the cells in the nervous system, causing osteomalasia, peripheral neuropathy . Vitamin A deficiency induces xerophtalmia and impairs the biochemistry in cells of the retina causing night blindness.