Normal and abnormal intestinal absorption by humans

Abstract

Adults eating a Western diet digest and absorb ingested food containing approximately 100 g fat, 350 g carbohydrate, and 75 g protein daily. Normal fat absorption requires adequate gastric, pancreatic, liver-biliary, mucosal, and lymphatic function. Carbohydrate and protein absorption is much less dependent on liver-biliary and lymphatic function. The intestine has a large reserve capacity for digestion and absorption of nutrients which is due to both excess function and to adaptive changes which increase function in one segment of the digestive-absorptive system when it is decreased or lost in another segment. The large reserve capacity explains why most of the prevalent intestinal diseases seldom cause clinically detectable changes in absorption. However, there are more than 30 less-common human diseases which cause malabsorption of one or more nutrients. Those that cause the malabsorption syndrome, i.e., steatorrhea and weight loss, can be conveniently categorized according to the major deficiency leading to the absorptive defect as follows: insufficient pancreatic enzyme activity, insufficient bile acid, disease of the small intestinal wall, multiple defects, mechanism unknown, and drug-induced malabsorption. A few diseases, most of which are congenital, cause malabsorption of only one or a few related nutrients such as lactose malabsorption in lactase deficiency. Most of the tests currently in use for detecting and diagnosing the cause of malabsorption are relatively insensitive and nonspecific. Chemical analysis of the fat in a three-day stool collection remains the single best test for diagnosing the malabsorption syndrome. However, a breath test using Triolein labeled with either the radioactive or stable isotope of carbon may be an important recent advance. Other breath tests are also currently being investigated for quantitating absorption or malabsorption of various substances including bile acids and various sugars. Studies of the function of the intestinal epithelial cells are usually best accomplished using tissue obtained by per oral biopsy. Biopsy specimens are used for many types of study including light and electron microscopic examination, chemical and enzymatic assays, tissue culture, and uptake of various radiolabeled compounds.