The influence of diet on the quality of faecal fat in patients with and without steatorrhoea

The origin of faecal fat.

“…The previous dietary study (Webb et al, 1963) in intact subjects showed that the composition of the dietary fat made little difference to the composition of the faecal fat; the present study has shown that in the small intestine only minor changes occur in the nature of the dietary fat, mostly attributable to the addition of non-dietary fat, possibly from desquamation of intestinal epithelium. It follows that the major alteration in the composition of the unabsorbed dietary fat must occur in the colon.…”

“…In addition to our previous study (Webb et al, 1963), other authors (Krakower, 1934;Annegers, Very Low Fat Boutwell, and Ivy, 1948) have drawn attention to 0-29 the difference between the proportion of various 0-36 fatty acids in the faeces and those in the diet. 1962).…”

“…These diets are identical with those previously used (Webb et al, 1963) and at least 80% of the fat was derived from butter or corn oil.…”

“…It has previously been shown (Webb, James, and Kellock, 1963) that, while the fatty acid composition of faecal fat varies considerably from individual to individual in normal subjects, it is only minimally affected by marked changes in the nature of the dietary fat. Theoretically this could be attributable to (1) differential absorption of different fatty acids in the small intestine; (2) a non-dietary origin for all the faecal fat; or (3) alteration of the unabsorbed fat during transit through the colon (probably by bacterial action).…”

Conversion of Long-Chain Unsaturated Fatty Acids to Hydroxy Acids by Human Intestinal Bacteria

“…In faeces with a high OHSA level, we failed to find an increase in either the proportion of active strains in most groups of bacteria able to hydrate oleic acid, or an increase in the total numbers of bacteria in those groups; this indicates that the increased faecal-OHSA levels found in some patients with steatorrhoea (Webb et al, 1963;Kim and Spritz, 1968a;Kellock et al, 1969;Soong et al, 1972) cannot be ascribed to changes in the faecal flora. Other factors that may be responsible are an increase in available substrate, and the time for which this is in contact with the colonic flora.…”