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Microbes, loose stools and fat malabsorption

March 16, 2016 | 6 Comments | SAFM Team

A Quick Clinical Tip of the day!

Many gut microbial infections or overgrowths can cause malabsorption of fats in the intestines. When your client/patient generally talks about “diarrhea” or loose stools, dive deeper into the discussion and understand the details. High fecal fat will usually make stools a bit loose, but also lighter in color and typically floating in the toilet. An overgrowth of bacteria (e.g. klebsiella, e coli) will metabolize bile salts and leave us unable to well digest fats. (Remember always that our microbes feast on our food supply before we do, so sometimes they take away what we need.) If we don’t have enough bile, then our digestive enzymes for fats (lipases) won’t work very well (which is why it DOES matter whether we have a gallbladder or not! but that’s another post for another day). If we don’t have enough bile to emulsify dietary fats and then digest them, we can’t absorb them. So we lose them in our stool. And possibly become deficient in essentialy fatty acids and also fat-soluble vitamins (e.g. A, D, K, E). I find that many of my clients benefit from some short-term digestive support while they are addressing microbial imbalances. An excellent full-spectrum choice is Thorne’s Biogest which includes some supplemental Hcl betaine (for stomach acid), bile salts (for bile), and enzymes (for prancreatic enzymes). https://www.thorne.com/products/dp/bio-gest-reg-60-s

I hope this quick clinical tip serves you and your patients and clients.

Warmly,

P.S. If you are passionate about transforming healthcare through the power of functional medicine, we encourage you to learn more about SAFM’s practitioner training programs. Enrollment for our next cohort is now open!

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3

Melanie Cross says:

June 18, 2020 at 10:48 am

If you suspect SIBO, can you start addressing issues before getting test? Ex: start the Thorne Biogest now
Thanks!

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- 3.1
  
  SAFM Team says:
  
  July 13, 2020 at 8:39 am
  
  Technically, yes, one could start off with digestive support or gas/bloating relief before testing for SIBO, but in order to get an accurate testing measure and base line you will want to encourage your client to prioritize the testing as soon as possible.
  
  Reply
2

Meredith Orlowski says:

June 9, 2020 at 1:55 pm

What would be the best rapid relief for chronic loose stool? I thought to add fiber, but is this not a good idea if there is a microbial imbalance?

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- 2.1
  
  SAFM Team says:
  
  June 9, 2020 at 9:26 pm
  
  There are a number of possibilities, so it’s important to consider a broader spectrum of circumstances in choosing what is best for a unique individual. Since you are a semester student, you can access extensive details to answer your question in the Disease Begins in the Gut 101 clinical course. In particular, we recommend you check out webinar #1, slides 33-35 in this course.
  
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1

Samantha Press says:

January 10, 2020 at 8:11 pm

What do sticky stools mean? I understand that too much fat can cause lighter color stools or floating but what about stools that are thick and leave streaks when flushing, is that also too much fat? I searched and couldn’t find a clear answer except for it is a sign of potential digestive impairment.

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- 1.1
  
  SAFM Team says:
  
  January 15, 2020 at 11:54 am
  
  ‘Sticky and thick’ can mean different things to a lot of people. It is necessary to assess the situation on the individual level in detail. In general, sticky stools are often associated with fat maldigestion and/or malabsorption. This is often caused by a gut microbial imbalance or bile formation or flow issues. Also, it’s worth to mention that excessive fat intake, in general, could cause this as well – if someone is trying a ketogenic diet and lives on cheese and blocks of butter may experience this without having anything wrong with their fat digestion or absorption. It’s simple system overload. Another possibility that will lead to ‘sticky’ stools could be insufficient fiber and/or water, the two ingredients that if out of balance will affect the stool appearance/quality. We hope this helps.
  
  Reply