Influence of Very Low-Fat Diets, with and without Gluten, on the Endogenous-Fecal-Fat Excretion of Patients with Tropical Sprue

Abstract

Summary Fat-balance experiments on patients with tropical sprue and on normal subjects are reported. All patients studied showed a steatorrhea of exogenous origin resulting from a fat absorption defect and not from an increased excretion of endogenous fecal fat. When these patients received a low-fat diet, their endogenous fecal fat excretion was of about the same magnitude as that of normal subjects. It was also demonstrated that, under the conditions of this experiment, gluten does not seem to have any effect on the endogenous excretion of fecal fat by tropical-sprue patients.