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Steatorrhea

 

 
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Steatorrhea
 
 
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Steatorrhea is the presence of excess fat in faeces. Stools may also float due to excess lipid, a.k.a. "floater", have an oily appearance and be especially foul smelling. An oily anal leakage or some level of fecal incontinence
Fecal incontinence

Fecal incontinence is the loss of regular control of the bowels. Involuntary excretion and leaking are common occurrences for those affected.Subjects relating to defecation are often socially unacceptable, thus those affected are often beset by feelings of shame and humiliation....
 may occur. There is increased fat
Fat

Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water. Chemistry, fats are generally ester of glycerol and fatty acids....
 excretion, which can be measured by determining the fecal fat level. While definitions have not been standardised, fat excretion in feces in excess of 0.3 (g/kg)/day is considered indicative of steatorrhea.

ible biological causes can be lack of bile
Bile

Bile or gall is a bitter yellow or green fluid secreted by hepatocytes from the liver of most vertebrates. In many species, bile is stored in the gallbladder between meals and upon eating is discharged into the duodenum where the bile aids the process of digestion of lipids....
 acids (due to liver damage or hypolipidemic drugs), defects in pancreatic juices (enzymes), and defective mucosal cells.






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Steatorrhea is the presence of excess fat in faeces. Stools may also float due to excess lipid, a.k.a. "floater", have an oily appearance and be especially foul smelling. An oily anal leakage or some level of fecal incontinence
Fecal incontinence

Fecal incontinence is the loss of regular control of the bowels. Involuntary excretion and leaking are common occurrences for those affected.Subjects relating to defecation are often socially unacceptable, thus those affected are often beset by feelings of shame and humiliation....
 may occur. There is increased fat
Fat

Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water. Chemistry, fats are generally ester of glycerol and fatty acids....
 excretion, which can be measured by determining the fecal fat level. While definitions have not been standardised, fat excretion in feces in excess of 0.3 (g/kg)/day is considered indicative of steatorrhea.

Possible biological causes

Possible biological causes can be lack of bile
Bile

Bile or gall is a bitter yellow or green fluid secreted by hepatocytes from the liver of most vertebrates. In many species, bile is stored in the gallbladder between meals and upon eating is discharged into the duodenum where the bile aids the process of digestion of lipids....
 acids (due to liver damage or hypolipidemic drugs), defects in pancreatic juices (enzymes), and defective mucosal cells. The absence of bile acids will cause the feces to turn gray or pale. Another cause of steatorrhea is due to the adverse effect of "OCTREOTIDE" which is an analog of somatostatin used clinically to treat acromegaly.

Seen in

  • malabsorption
    Malabsorption

    Malabsorption is a state arising from abnormality in digestion or absorption of Nutrient across the gastrointestinal tract.Impairment can be of single or multiple nutrients depending on the abnormality....
    , e.g. in inflammatory bowel disease
    Inflammatory bowel disease

    In medicine, inflammatory bowel disease is a group of inflammation conditions of the colon and small intestine. The major types of IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.....
    , celiac disease, and abetalipoproteinaemia
  • exocrine pancreatic insufficiency
    Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency

    Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency is the inability to properly digest food due to a lack of digestive enzymes made by the pancreas. This disease is found frequently in dogs....
  • chronic pancreatitis
    Pancreatitis

    Pancreatitis is the inflammation of the pancreas. See also acute pancreatitis and chronic pancreatitis for more details....
  • choledocholithiasis
    Choledocholithiasis

    Choledocholithiasis is the presence of gallstones in the common bile duct. This condition causes jaundice and liver cell damage, and is a medical emergency, requiring the ERCP procedure or cholecystectomy treatment....
     - (obstruction of the bile duct
    Bile duct

    A bile duct is any of a number of long tube-like structures that carry bile.Bile, required for the digestion of food, is excreted by the liver into passages that carry bile toward the hepatic duct, which joins with the cystic duct to form the common bile duct, which opens into the intestine....
     by a gallstone
    Gallstone

    In medicine, gallstones are crystalline bodies formed within the body by accretion or concretion of normal or abnormal bile component.Gallstones can occur anywhere within the biliary tree, including the gallbladder and the common bile duct....
    )
  • pancreatic cancer
    Pancreatic cancer

    Pancreatic cancer is a cancer of the pancreas. Each year in the United States, about 37,680 individuals are diagnosed with this condition and 34,290 die from the disease each year....
     - (if it obstructs biliary outflow)
  • primary sclerosing cholangitis
    Primary sclerosing cholangitis

    Primary sclerosing cholangitis is a chronic liver disease caused by progressive inflammation and scarring of the bile ducts of the liver. The inflammation impedes the flow of bile to the gut, which can ultimately lead to liver cirrhosis and liver failure....
  • bacterial overgrowth
  • short bowel syndrome
    Short bowel syndrome

    Short bowel syndrome is a malabsorption disorder caused by the surgery removal of the small intestine, or rarely due to the complete dysfunction of a large segment of bowel....
  • cystic fibrosis
    Cystic fibrosis

    Cystic Fibrosis is a Genetic disorder affecting the exocrine glands of the lungs, liver, pancreas, and intestines, causing progressive disability due to multisystem failure....
  • Zollinger-Ellison syndrome
    Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

    Zollinger-Ellison syndrome is a disorder where increased levels of the hormone gastrin are produced, causing the stomach to produce excess hydrochloric acid....
  • giardiasis
    Giardiasis

    IntroductionGiardiasis in humans is caused by the infection of the small bowel by a single-celled organism called Giardia lamblia. Giardiasis occurs worldwide with a prevalence of 20-30% in developing countries....
     - a protozoan parasite infection
  • Abuse or misuse of certain prescribed slimming pills.


As a side effect

Steatorrhea can also be due to eating non-digestible oils or fats such as Olestra
Olestra

Olestra is a fat substitute that adds no fat, calories, or cholesterol to products. It has been used in the preparation of traditionally high-fat foods such as potato chips, thereby lowering or eliminating their fat content....
, and a side-effect of medicines that prevent the absorption of dietary fats such as Orlistat
Orlistat

Orlistat Orlistat is the saturated derivative of lipstatin?a potent natural product inhibitor of pancreatic lipases isolated from the bacteria Streptomyces toxytricini....
.

Artificial fats

The fat substitute Olestra
Olestra

Olestra is a fat substitute that adds no fat, calories, or cholesterol to products. It has been used in the preparation of traditionally high-fat foods such as potato chips, thereby lowering or eliminating their fat content....
, used in some reduced-fat foods, has been proven to cause leakage in some consumers. The United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is an Government agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for regulating and supervising the safety of foods, dietary supplements, Medications, vaccines, Biopharmaceutical, blood transfusion, medical devices, Electromagnetic radiation-emitting devices, veteri...
 warning indicated that excessive consumption of Olestra could result in "loose stools"; this warning has not been required since 2003.

Medications

Orlistat
Orlistat

Orlistat Orlistat is the saturated derivative of lipstatin?a potent natural product inhibitor of pancreatic lipases isolated from the bacteria Streptomyces toxytricini....
 (Xenical) is a diet pill that works by blocking the enzymes that digest fat. As a result fat cannot be absorbed from the gut and some fat is excreted in the feces instead of being metabolically digested, sometimes causing oily anal leakage.

Natural fats

Consuming Jojoba oil
Jojoba oil

Jojoba oil is the liquid wax produced in the seed of the jojoba plant, a shrub native to southern Arizona, southern California and northwestern Mexico....
 has been documented to cause steatorrhea and anal leakage because it is indigestible.

Consuming escolar
Escolar

The escolar, Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, is a snake mackerel, the only species in the genus Lepidocybium. It is found in deep tropical and temperate waters around the world....
 and oilfish
Oilfish

The oilfish, Ruvettus pretiosus, is a snake mackerel, the only species in the genus Ruvettus. It is found in the Mediterranean, middle Atlantic and throughout the southern seas, at depths of between 100 and 800 m....
 (sometimes called butterfish) will often cause steatorrhea. The fish is commonly used in party catering due to its delicate flavor and the fact that it is cheap and readily available.