Relationship of the xylose absorption status of children in Bangladesh to their absorption of macronutrients from local diets.

We compared the results of xylose absorption tests from 31 asymptomatic Bangladeshi children with their ability to absorb macronutrients from cereal-vegetable diets, as determined by metabolic balance studies. The xylose test results ranged from 9.8 to 37.0% excretion of the ingested dose, with more than half of the values less than 20% excretion. Nevertheless, the apparent absorption of macronutrients during 7-day balance studies ranged from 89.8 to 97.7% of intake for carbohydrate, 81.7 to 98.7% for fat, and 47.3 to 78.9% for nitrogen. There was a statistically significant correlation between the xylose test results and apparent carbohydrate absorption for one diet group only (r = 0.76, p less than 0.05), but not between the xylose results and other indicators of intestinal function of nutrition status. We conclude that diminished absorption of xylose, which is commonly recognized among asymptomatic residents of the tropics, does not necessarily indicate impaired absorption of macronutrients from the customary diet. Therefore, tropical enteropathy may not have major nutritional significance for those individuals with manifestations of the syndrome.