[Nutritional status and small intestine absorption].

A high percentage of hospitalized patients are malnourished. By means of biochemical examinations (visceral proteins), anthropometric measurements (body mass, triceps skinfold, arm muscle circumference, creatinine index) and immunological methods (total lymphocyte count in the blood, skin testing with test antigens) it is possible to classify nutritional conditions in severity and kind of malnutrition. 158 patients with chronic inflammatory diseases of the GI-tract and cancer without generalization were studied by means of an exact nutritional assessment and by means of the modified D-xylose test. There was no significant correlation between the degree of malnutrition and the extent of intestinal absorption. Only in 5.7 per cent of malnourished patients existed a malabsorption.