Fat Malabsorption & Deficiencies

[beadgirl]

Hello everyone.

 

Just a quick question!

 

Is it possible to experience fat malabsorption and/or vitamin and mineral deficiencies WITHOUT some form of intestinal damage? (Assuming your dietary intake is normal).

 

Thanks very much.

 

ETA: Particularly B12, iron and magnesium. I seem to always get deficient unless supplementing heavily...

[beadgirl]

No one has any ideas?

[cyclinglady]

What is your definition of intestinal damage? I suppose you could have normal villi but a non-functioning gallbladder. That could cause fat malabsorption. You could have a big parasite (e.g. Hookworms) in your gut feasting on all your food and leaving you with little.

Here is a government link regarding malabsorption syndrome:

Open Original Shared Link

As you can see, the list is endless.

[nvsmom]

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) can result in vitamin deficiencies, and those with NCGS have no intestinal damage.  Actually, most autoimmune diseases can result in vitamin deficiencies; I think it is from the inflammation rather than the damaged intestines.

 

I don't know about the fat malabsorption... I'm a celiac who never had a problem with that.

[sreese68]

I recently got the results of stool testing and had a high amount of fecal fat, so I'm not absorbing fat correctly.  My gallbladder, pancreas, and liver are all fine.  I haven't had lactose in 3 years.  Don't know if it's intestinal damage or what.  I'm currently looking into this, too.  It's such a slow process getting the appointment, doing the test, waiting for results, etc.

 

I did find this article.

 

Open Original Shared Link

[frieze]

I recently got the results of stool testing and had a high amount of fecal fat, so I'm not absorbing fat correctly.  My gallbladder, pancreas, and liver are all fine.  I haven't had lactose in 3 years.  Don't know if it's intestinal damage or what.  I'm currently looking into this, too.  It's such a slow process getting the appointment, doing the test, waiting for results, etc.

 

I did find this article.

 

Open Original Shared Linke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

what testing has ben done to determine that all these are functioning ok?

[greenbeanie]

My biopsy was negative for celiac, and I had low magnesium and potassium years before (presumably from chronic diarrhea, though I had no idea what was causing it then). I also had low cholesterol on and off for years, despite eating meat, eggs, and a fair amount of cheese. I still had an abnormal fecal fat test after a full year gluten free, though subjectively it seemed to be getting better gradually over time.

It's been almost two years now and I haven't had vitamin and mineral tests done lately, but I feel like everything is still continuing to get better. It's just very, very slow. I did have huge improvements in many symptoms within weeks of going gluten free, but the fat digestion thing has been much slower to improve. My gallbladder and pancreas tests were also normal. I'm not confident in my biopsy results for all sorts of reasons, but in any case it's definitely possible to have malabsorption without any intestinal damage that is obvious enough to be found with a few biopsy samples.

[beadgirl]

Thank you so much for your responses! It definitely cleared it up for me.

 

I'm awaiting my biopsy result but I've most definitely had concerning symptoms (as stated), so I just wondered if this HAD to be the result of intestinal damage, i.e. celiac or Crohn's. I wasn't sure if non-celiac gluten intolerance could do this also - it does make me wonder how it does though, if there's "no damage".....

 

cyclinglady, I certainly hope it's not a hookworm!