What is malabsorption?
Malabsorption is an umbrella term for a wide range of disorders that affect your ability to absorb nutrients from your food. Malabsorption can lead to indigestion and even malnutrition — not from a lack of eating enough nutrients, but from an inability to absorb them.
You can think of digestion as a three-part process. The first part is breaking down food into digestible pieces. The second part is absorbing all the nutrients in your food. And the third part is eliminating the waste that is left over when all the good stuff has been absorbed.
If you have digestive difficulties, the problem could be in any of these three stages (or several). Malabsorption disorders cover the second stage. They include specific food intolerances caused by enzyme deficiencies, as well as various gastrointestinal diseases that affect your digestive system.
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What happens if you have malabsorption?
You can have general malabsorption, which affects your ability to absorb all nutrients, or you can have particular difficulties absorbing certain kinds of nutrients. Whatever you can’t absorb will pass undigested in your stools. People with malabsorption syndrome often have diarrhea as a side effect, which can make malabsorption worse. With diarrhea, food moves too fast through your bowels for nutrients to be absorbed.
In the short term, malabsorption will cause gastrointestinal distress from the inability to digest certain foods. Over time, your body will start to show signs of deficiency in those nutrients that you can’t absorb. Deficiencies in any of the macronutrients — protein, fats or carbohydrates — will cause signs of undernutrition, such as muscle wasting and reduced immunity. Deficiencies in micronutrients — vitamins and minerals — may affect your eyes, bones, skin and hair.
What are the different types of malabsorption disorders?
Some gastrointestinal diseases, such as celiac disease and inflammatory bowel disease, cause general malabsorption of all kinds of nutrients. In other cases, you may have particular difficulties absorbing a particular kind of nutrient. Some of these types include:
Carbohydrate malabsorption
Some people are sensitive to one or several carbohydrates (sugars). You may experience this primarily as gas pain and abdominal bloating. Carbohydrates that aren’t fully absorbed in your small intestine get fermented by the bacteria in your colon. The bacteria break them down into gasses and short-chain fatty acids. The gasses cause intestinal gas, and the short-chain fatty acids cause fatty stools.
Fat malabsorption
This is a common type of malabsorption, possibly because it has so many causes. Fats that aren’t absorbed in your small intestine pass to your colon, causing fatty stools (steatorrhea). Fatty stools are greasy and runny and particularly smelly. They may be light-colored and float. Fat malabsorption also leads to the malabsorption of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K).
Bile acid malabsorption
Sometimes fat malabsorption results from a lack of bile from diseases of the gallbladder, bile ducts or liver. But sometimes it results from another problem, leaving leftover bile acids in your small intestine and passing these on to your colon. This side effect is called bile acid malabsorption. Leftover bile salts trigger your colon to secrete water, causing chronic diarrhea.
Protein malabsorption
Protein malabsorption doesn’t usually occur by itself unless you have a particular intolerance. Examples of this include milk protein intolerances and gluten intolerance.
FAQs
How is malabsorption syndrome treated? Treatment for malabsorption syndrome may include a special diet, medicine to replace intestinal enzymes or reduce spasms, and vitamin or mineral supplements, such as B12 and iron.
Does malabsorption syndrome go away? ›
In many cases, you can help treat malabsorption and its symptoms with lifestyle changes. Most people experience occasional indigestion, bloating, gas or diarrhea. If something you eat doesn't agree with you, you may have temporary symptoms, but they typically go away on their own.
What is the number one cause of malabsorption? ›
Possible causes
Factors that may cause malabsorption syndrome include: damage to the intestine from infection, inflammation, trauma (injury), or surgery. prolonged use of antibiotics. other conditions such as celiac disease, Crohn's disease, chronic pancreatitis, or cystic fibrosis.
What is the classic symptom of malabsorption syndrome? ›
A malabsorption syndrome should be suspected when a patient's history includes but is not limited to ongoing or chronic diarrhea, unintentional weight loss despite normal nutrient intake, greasy, voluminous, foul-smelling stools that reportedly float.
What does malabsorption poop look like? ›
When there is inadequate absorption of fats in the digestive tract, stool contains excess fat and is light-colored, soft, bulky, greasy, and unusually foul-smelling (such stool is called steatorrhea). The stool may float or stick to the side of the toilet bowl and may be difficult to flush away.
What vitamin helps malabsorption? ›
Treatment
- Key vitamins and minerals, such as iron, folic acid, and vitamin B12.
- Enough carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.
Natural Treatment
We can achieve this by increasing our intake of Vitamin D, water-soluble vitamins (Vitamin B family), and minerals such as iron and calcium. Taking glutamine, butyrate acid, and zinc can also help reduce gut permeability.
What should I eat if I have malabsorption? ›
3. Eat More Fiber. Fiber has many benefits for the general population, but especially those with malabsorption syndrome. By eating more fiber, you boost digestion and also slow down how long food stays in your digestive tract.
What are the chief complaints of malabsorption syndrome? ›
This results in malabsorption triggering symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, anorexia, and weight loss. As a result, patients will have many vitamin and mineral deficits such as vitamin A, thiamine, vitamin B12, folate, and iron, resulting in anemia.
Does malabsorption show up in blood work? ›
Hematologic tests indicated in the workup of malabsorption include the following: A complete blood cell (CBC) count may reveal microcytic anemia due to iron deficiency or macrocytic anemia due to vitamin B12 (cobalamin) or B9 (folate) malabsorption.
Bile acid deficiency that leads to fat malabsorption may cause weight loss if you have trouble digesting enough calories. In other cases, bile acid malabsorption causes weight gain. This seems to be related to metabolism. BAM, or its causes, may affect the way your body processes and stores calories as fat.
What vitamin deficiency causes fat malabsorption? ›
Low levels of carotene in the blood suggest deficient absorption of fat-soluble vitamins or dietary deficiency. Serum carotene levels are generally low in people with fat malabsorption. Vitamin B12 and folate levels may also be used to screen for malabsorption.
What autoimmune disease causes malabsorption? ›
Some of the causes of malabsorption include:
- Cystic fibrosis (the number one cause in the United States)
- Chronic pancreatitis.
- Lactose intolerance.
- Celiac disease.
- Whipple disease.
- Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (a genetic disease affecting the pancreas and bone marrow)
- Cow's milk protein intolerance.
Acquired causes of malabsorption are classified by focussing on the three phases of digestion and absorption: 1) luminal/digestive phase, 2) mucosal/absorptive phase, and 3) transport phase. Most acquired diseases affect the luminal/digestive phase.
Can a colonoscopy detect malabsorption? ›
Colonoscopy is the investigation of choice for diagnosis. Even a macroscopically normal mucosa on endoscopy can have abnormalities such as microscopic colitis and bile acid malabsorption (BAM).
Can probiotics fix malabsorption? ›
In some studies, probiotic supplements containing lactic acid bacteria and Bifidobacterium have been demonstrated effective in supporting beneficial microbes in the SI while improving barrier integrity and reducing nutrient malabsorption and SI disease-related pathology.
How do you fix gut absorption? ›
Other factors that can improve nutrient absorption include:
- Probiotic bacteria. These help to support the growth of the good bacteria in your gut that aid in digestion.
- Chewing thoroughly and eating slowly. This helps to release enzymes that are an essential part of digestion.
- Managing stress. ...
- Taking digestive enzymes.
Malabsorption syndrome can't always be prevented, especially if you have celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, or other chronic conditions. A chronic condition is one that is ongoing and lasts a long time, from several months to a lifetime.
What are the two main principles in treating malabsorption? ›
Two basic principles underlie the management of patients with malabsorption, (1) the correction of nutritional deficiencies, and (2) when possible, the treatment of causative diseases.
