beta-carotene and Malabsorption-Syndromes

Breath tests are quick, noninvasive, simple to perform and reliable. In particular in patients with diarrhea, bloating, nausea and uncharacteristic abdominal symptoms, the H2 breath test is highly useful. Using this procedure, malabsorption of various different carbohydrates, the absorptive performance of the upper abdominal tract, the orocecal transit time, or bacterial overgrowth in the small bowel, can be determined. Using 24-hour pH-metry, the acidity in the stomach and esophagus can be measured, and reflux disease, for example, diagnosed. Today, elevated fat in the stool is detected on the basis of the beta carotene level in the serum. Further function tests for the detection of pancreatic insufficiency, such as the determination of fecal pancreatic elastase, are also available.

Topics: beta Carotene; Breath Tests; Constipation; Diagnostic Techniques, Digestive System; Diarrhea; Esophageal pH Monitoring; Family Practice; Feces; Gastric Acidity Determination; Gastroesophageal Reflux; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Humans; Malabsorption Syndromes; Pancreatic Elastase; Pancreatic Function Tests

Fat absorption was studied in 24 patients with clinically definite multiple sclerosis and in 36 healthy control subjects. Beta-carotene and vitamin A in their plasma were also measured. This double-blind and randomized study showed no differences between these two populations with regard to the three parameters. We did not find evidence for fat malabsorption in multiple sclerosis.

Topics: Adult; Aged; beta Carotene; Carotenoids; Dietary Fats; Double-Blind Method; Feces; Humans; Intestinal Absorption; Malabsorption Syndromes; Middle Aged; Multiple Sclerosis; Vitamin A

To investigate the determinants of urinary stone formation in patients with fat malabsorption, because, although the prevalence of urolithiasis is greater in patients with intestinal diseases, the pathogenetic mechanisms and risk factors associated with urolithiasis in this population remain partially unsolved.. The present study retrospectively analyzed the determinants of urolithiasis in 51 patients with fat malabsorption due to different intestinal diseases. Anthropometric, clinical, blood, 24-hour urinary parameters, and dietary intake were assessed.. The resection rate (ie, pancreatic and/or bowel resection) differed significantly between stone formers (SF; n=10) and nonstone formers (NSF; n=41; 70% vs 29%; P=.027). Urinary citrate was lower (1.606±1.824 vs 3.156±1.968 mmol/24 h; P=.027), while oxalate excretion (0.659±0.292 vs 0.378±0.168 mmol/24 h; P=.002) and the relative supersaturation of calcium oxalate were greater in SF than NSF (8.16±4.61 vs 3.94±2.93; P=.003). Total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, but also high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, plasma β-carotene, and vitamin E concentrations, were significantly diminished, whereas serum aspartate aminotransferase activity was significantly greater in SF compared with NSF. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed resection status as a major extrarenal risk factor for stone formation (odds ratio 5.639).. Increased urinary oxalate and decreased citrate excretion, probably resulting from pancreatic and/or bowel resection with mainly preserved colon, were identified as the most crucial urinary risk factors for stone formation in patients with fat malabsorption. The findings suggest that hyperoxaluria predominantly results from increased colonic permeability for oxalate due to disturbed bile acid metabolism. The impaired status of fat-soluble antioxidants β-carotene and vitamin E indicates severe malabsorptive states associated with an enhanced stone-forming propensity.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Aspartate Aminotransferases; beta Carotene; Calcium Oxalate; Case-Control Studies; Cholesterol, HDL; Cholesterol, LDL; Citric Acid; Colectomy; Dietary Fats; Female; Humans; Ileum; Intestinal Absorption; Logistic Models; Malabsorption Syndromes; Male; Middle Aged; Odds Ratio; Oxalic Acid; Pancreatectomy; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Urolithiasis; Vitamin E; Young Adult

: Depletion of beta-carotene (b-c) has not been extensively studied in children with chronic cholestatic liver disease.. : We assessed b-c serum concentration in 53 children with cholestatic liver disease: 19 patients operated on for biliary atresia, 12 with Alagille syndrome, and 22 with progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis. To test b-c absorption, 6 children with chronic cholestasis received a load of 10 mg b-c/kg body weight.. : We found decreased b-c concentrations in 45 patients. The absorption of b-c was not detectable in 5 of 6 children studied.. : b-c depletion is a common problem of chronic cholestatic liver disease in childhood that can be attributed to disturbed intestinal absorption.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Alagille Syndrome; beta Carotene; Biliary Atresia; Child; Child, Preschool; Cholestasis; Cholestasis, Intrahepatic; Female; Humans; Infant; Intestinal Absorption; Liver Diseases; Malabsorption Syndromes; Male; Young Adult

Cystic fibrosis often combines an infectious pathology with a syndrome of malabsorption, both potentially capable of favoring the deleterious effects of reactive oxygen species. This study was a simultaneous evaluation of the main antioxidant systems dependent on micronutrients and of lipid peroxidation products in 27 children with cystic fibrosis and 17 healthy children. Plasma of cystic fibrosis patients showed very low concentrations of beta-carotene (0.30 +/- 0.2 vs 1.63 +/- 0.5 mumol/g cholesterol, P < 0.0001) and a lower activity of selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase (263.6 +/- 42 vs 296.9 +/- 57 U/L, P = 0.028). In parallel, the higher plasma concentrations of organic hydroperoxides (171.5 +/- 54.4 vs 122.6 +/- 23.3 mumol/L, P = 0.001) and of thiobarbituric acid reactants (2.9 +/- 0.6 vs 2.4 +/- 0.3 mumol/L, P = 0.004) reflected oxidative stress in this pathology. In addition, in these patients the major substrates of lipoperoxidation were significantly lower, whether they be linoleic acid (2.26 +/- 0.8 vs 3.60 +/- 0.9 mmol/L, P < 0.0001) or arachidonic acid (0.55 +/- 0.2 vs 0.74 +/- 0.2 mmol/L, P = 0.006). These results suggested that nutritional deficiencies resulting from malabsorption could considerably amplify disorders related to toxicity of reactive oxygen species. These nutritional deficits could also be aggravated by the destruction of antioxidant compounds by the inflammatory process.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; beta Carotene; Carotenoids; Child; Cholesterol; Cystic Fibrosis; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; Female; Glutathione Peroxidase; Humans; Lipid Metabolism; Lipid Peroxidation; Malabsorption Syndromes; Male; Oxidative Stress; Reactive Oxygen Species; Selenium; Superoxide Dismutase; Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances; Vitamin A; Vitamin E; Vitamins; Zinc

Because pale-bird syndrome (PBS), defined as the failure of birds to realize the color potential of their diet, has been demonstrated to be caused by malabsorption or by hyperexcretion of carotenoids, a method for measuring malabsorption of carotenoids would be useful. The absorption of dietary canthaxanthin, a red diketocarotenoid, into serum during aflatoxicosis was measured in an experiment with a 2 x 9 factorial arrangement of treatments (0 and 5 micrograms of aflatoxin/g of diet; serum collected at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 24 h after a standard meal fed to four groups of 10 3-wk-old birds). Serum canthaxanthin levels determined by HPLC attained plateau values between 8 and 14 h after the meal. The absorption of canthaxanthin was depressed significantly (P less than .05) in birds with aflatoxicosis from 4 to 24 h after feeding the standard meal. Four field flocks diagnosed as having PBS were tested for malabsorption by intubating 10 birds with a standard amount of canthaxanthin and measuring serum canthaxanthin 12 h later. One flock had about 85% normally pigmented birds and 15% extremely pale birds, the second flock had a coccidiosis history, the third had a Newcastle disease history, and the fourth had a history of both coccidiosis and Newcastle disease. The flocks were 5- to 6-wk-old, received feed of the same manufacture, and their disease outbreaks had occurred 2 wk earlier.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Topics: Aflatoxins; Animals; beta Carotene; Canthaxanthin; Carotenoids; Chickens; Intestinal Absorption; Lutein; Malabsorption Syndromes; Male; Mycotoxicosis; Poultry Diseases; Xanthophylls; Zeaxanthins

Topics: Adolescent; beta Carotene; Carotenoids; Child; Dietary Fats; Feces; Giardiasis; Humans; Lipids; Malabsorption Syndromes; Vitamin A; Vitamins