Fat Intolerance

[emcmaster]

Does anyone else have problems digesting fat? Since Jan. 2005, I've found that, as a general rule-of-thumb, the amount of calories from fat in my diet cannot make up more than 20% of my total daily calories.

Lately I've been able to eat more fat and not have problems. Did any of you have problems digesting fat when you first went gluten-free and have it go away after awhile? How long did that take?

Thanks!

[tarnalberry]

Depends on the kind of fat. Fried foods do not sit well with my digestive system. Nuts, avocados, and unrefined oils not exposed to very high heat, however, I'm fine with.

As always, listening to your body is a good thing. :-)

[schuyler]

  tarnalberry said:

Depends on the kind of fat. Fried foods do not sit well with my digestive system. Nuts, avocados, and unrefined oils not exposed to very high heat, however, I'm fine with.

As always, listening to your body is a good thing. :-)

Same for me (except nuts; my body hates those!).

[Rachel--24]

I have trouble with all fats. If I eat anything high in fats I get really bulky loose stools. If I use oils on my salad later when I have a bm there will be a noticeable oil slick in the water. I dont eat any fried foods or anything like that and I cant eat nuts. Its basically avocadoes, oils, some meats (if there is any grease) and coconut butter that do this to me. I'm assuming this is malabsorption of fats?

What can cause this? I've been gluten-free a long time now.

[eKatherine]

I can eat saturated fats and oils that are incorporated into something else - fried is ok, generally. A teaspoon of olive oil by itself will give me diarrhea in a hurry.

[emcmaster]

Interesting to see that some of you are still having problems after being gluten-free for a long time.

I had 2 T. of peanut butter on saturday (split into two servings) and was bloated up like a balloon yesterday. Wish I could eat more fat.

[Nantzie]

I always heard that trouble digesting fats can be a sign of gallbladder problems. You guys might want to bring it up with your doctors to see if that's an issue.

Nancy

[Starfish]

I also have a problem with fats and my gallbladder is fine. If I have more than a couple of teaspoons of margarine I suffer and can tolerate no oils at all and all nuts are out for me too.

[indyceliac]

  emcmaster said:

Interesting to see that some of you are still having problems after being gluten-free for a long time.

I had 2 T. of peanut butter on saturday (split into two servings) and was bloated up like a balloon yesterday. Wish I could eat more fat.

Make sure u arent getting cross-contaminated from the peanut butter! That was happening to me for awhile..

just a thought

[kabowman]

I am similar to Tiffany - I keep all meat fats down to a minimum, except for lard and baking, which I don't do a lot of, because my system doesn't handle it well. But olive oil and avacados don't bother me. My gall bladder is fine.

[sspitzer5]

I seem to have problems with olive oil too. Fried foods seem ok though. I was thinking that I might have an intolerance to olives but my doc didn't think so. She said that fats are more complex to digest, so maybe my intestines are still damaged and can't break it down???

[Green12]

  indyceliac said:

Make sure u arent getting cross-contaminated from the peanut butter! That was happening to me for awhile..

just a thought

Also, you might want to rule out a peanut/legume allergy.

Just another thought.

[marciab]

I've had trouble with fats for a long time too. At it's worst, I would burp up any fat that I had just eaten. Like the butter on popcorn. I don't throw up, it just hangs in my throat and keeps coming back up on me. It was that way with all fats though, not just butter. Sorry, TMI

I'm digesting all the healthy fats easily at this time. EVOO, flax oil, borage oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, etc. I had to add each one slowly though.

I'm thinking something happens to fat when it is heated that my body just can't handle.

BTW, I think the oils are helping me with my constipation too

[Green12]

  Rachel--24 said:

I have trouble with all fats. If I eat anything high in fats I get really bulky loose stools. If I use oils on my salad later when I have a bm there will be a noticeable oil slick in the water. I dont eat any fried foods or anything like that and I cant eat nuts. Its basically avocadoes, oils, some meats (if there is any grease) and coconut butter that do this to me. I'm assuming this is malabsorption of fats?

What can cause this? I've been gluten-free a long time now.

When I did a stool analysis some years ago the results showed fat malabsorption for me.

I found this info about it:

Some causes of Malabsorption-

Acutely abnormal intestinal lining due to an acute intestinal infection, overuse of antibiotics, alcohol

Abnormal intestine lining present in Crohns and Celiac

Unbalanced flora, bacterial overgrowth, parasites

Inadequate gastric mixing due to the presence of a fistula

Impaired transport of enzymes

Fat Malabsorption indicators include large volume stool and weight loss, fat globules are present in stool with microscopic examination (stool analysis).

With fat malabsorption the stools are greasy, soft but not liquid, foul smelling and bulky. Growth failure is a dominant feature, because the intestinal loss of high-energy fat nutrients (9 kcal/g of fat) leads to a profound deficiency in the total calories absorbed daily.

[deezer]

Posters in this thread: How are you doing? Did you find anything to help your fat absorption issues? Have you tried enzymes?

We have some new research: 1 out of 3 Celiacs in a small-scale study had pancreatic insufficiency and improved with enzymes - eventually not even needing the enzymes any more

Open Original Shared Link

Here's one more: "We conclude that a mild/moderate pancreatic insufficiency is quite frequent in celiacs, but that it may be completely independent of nutritional status"

Open Original Shared Link

[quincy]

  On 5/5/2011 at 3:27 AM, deezer said:

Posters in this thread: How are you doing? Did you find anything to help your fat absorption issues? Have you tried enzymes?

We have some new research: 1 out of 3 Celiacs in a small-scale study had pancreatic insufficiency and improved with enzymes - eventually not even needing the enzymes any more

Open Original Shared Link

Here's one more: "We conclude that a mild/moderate pancreatic insufficiency is quite frequent in celiacs, but that it may be completely independent of nutritional status"

Open Original Shared Link

ever since I stopped taking the digestive enzymes my situation has deteriorated again. back to loose bowels again after months of bathroom bliss. going to restart enzymes once the stool specimen goes off for testing again...

[deezer]

  On 5/14/2011 at 1:42 PM, quincy said:

ever since I stopped taking the digestive enzymes my situation has deteriorated again. back to loose bowels again after months of bathroom bliss. going to restart enzymes once the stool specimen goes off for testing again...

quincy, Please let us know how the tests turn out.

How long have you been gluten-free? What types of enzymes are/were you taking?

I had some issues with fat digestion a few weeks back, but apparently that was at least partially caused by some gluten that snuck its way into my diet. I have been chatting with some others and hypothesizing that fat digestion problems are actually caused by continued inflammation - which could be caused by either continued trace gluten exposure OR by some other food allergen causing continuous inflammation.

I am wondering if you are constantly getting some trace amounts of gluten as well? I have been looking on some other websites and finding lots of products I thought were "safe" actually test positive for Gluten..... :-/

[quincy]

  On 5/15/2011 at 12:35 AM, deezer said:

quincy, Please let us know how the tests turn out.

How long have you been gluten-free? What types of enzymes are/were you taking?

I had some issues with fat digestion a few weeks back, but apparently that was at least partially caused by some gluten that snuck its way into my diet. I have been chatting with some others and hypothesizing that fat digestion problems are actually caused by continued inflammation - which could be caused by either continued trace gluten exposure OR by some other food allergen causing continuous inflammation.

I am wondering if you are constantly getting some trace amounts of gluten as well? I have been looking on some other websites and finding lots of products I thought were "safe" actually test positive for Gluten..... :-/

Yes Deezer, I thought I was getting gluten from a new source. I was convinced my recent ttg reading would have crept up but it came back negative again. I have been gluten-free since dx last year april 21st.

my functional medicine internist thinks my gallbladder is not working which would add to my fat intolerance/malabsorption. I was taking DigestZymeV by Ortho molecular which you can only get through a fm doc or nutritionist. Once the stool analysis is done I will be going on that and a gallbladder/liver cleanser by designs for health called LV/GB complex. Ox Bile is in both of them as well as the pancreatic enzymes.

if you do a search on celiac and gallbladder disease you will get alot of hits and alot of information. Some are theorizing that many un diagnosed celiacs often present with gallbladder disease first because the CCK that causes the gallbladder to contract when fat and protein are present is secreted in the duodenal mucosa, which as we know is damaged in us w celiac disease. It's interesting because back in 1995 I wound up in the hospital for 3 days with pancreatitis after eating a high fat meal. No one suspected gb disease or celiac, they just did a ct scan to see if the pancreas looked ok. All of this is connected obviously.