Plasma Triglyceride Increase After Oral Fat Load in Malabsorption During Early Childhood

Abstract

Plasma triglyceride (TG) levels were determined before and after a test meal of 2 g neutral fat per kg b.w. in 32 children with different malabsorption syndromes, 8 children with transient growth retardation without demonstrable disease and in 29 controls. The increase of plasma TG 120 min after the test meal was found to discriminate between children with malabsorption syndromes and controls during the studied age period, 1 month-3 years. In this respect it was superior to faecal fat determination. Children with transient growth retardation who later spontaneously regained satisfactory growth, although along a lower SD score than the initial one, showed a TG increase after the test meal comparable to that of the controls.

Reference Values of the Steatocrit and Its Modifications in Diarrheal Diseases

“…Data in the literature are either conflicting or not comp arable, becau se a wide variety of methods and experimental condi tions have been used to establish cutoff value s for the excretion of fecal fat. Howev er , the vast majority of studies reported an increased excretion of fecal fat in younger ages (6,17,20,21), which appears to be similar to the results obtained using the steatocrit.…”

A Review. Fat Digestion in the Newborn: Role of Lingual Lipase and Preduodenal Digestion

“…Fat absorption, measured either by the determination of the fat content of feces collected during 3 or more days on a standardized diet and expressed as a fraction of consumed fat (23,79) or by determination of the increment in plasma triglycerides after an oral fat load (22), has been shown to be 65-75% in premature and under 85-90% in term newborns. The wide variations in the efficiency of fat absorption in the newborn depend on the type of dietary fat as well as on the functional maturity of the gastrointestinal tract at birth.…”