[Fecal fat excretion rate in patients with Crohn's disease--comparison of a diet containing 50 g/day of fat with elemental diet with an addition of 50 g/day butter fat].

Fecal fat excretion rate was determined by the method of Van de Kamer in 31 patients with Crohn's disease and six healthy controls, when fed by the diet containing 50 g/day of fat. Patients with jejuno-ileitis and those with partial and extensive resection showed a significantly greater excretion rate compared with patients with ileitis and healthy controls, however, there was no significant difference between patients with ileitis and healthy controls. In this study, the fecal excretion rate was less than 10 g/day in non-operated cases. Our results seems to be smaller than those in previous studies from the western countries. Fecal fat excretion rate was determined in 12 patients with non-operated Crohn's disease and six healthy controls, when fed by the additional 50 g/day butter fat during the elemental diet. With ingestion of the additional 50 g/day butter fat during elemental diet, fecal fat excretion rate was significantly increased in the patients with non-operated Crohn's disease than the results of the diet containing 50 g/day fat, but not significantly changed in the healthy controls. This result suggest that determination of fecal fat excretion rate with fed by the additional 50 g/day butter fat during elemental diet is a useful test for detecting a mild fat malabsorption in non-operated Crohn's disease.