American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 20, 866-883, Copyright © 1967 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Malabsorption in the Tropics: a Second Look

I. The Role of Protein Malnutrition

¹ From the Department of Medicine, Universidad del Valle School of Medicine and the University Hospital, Cali, Colombia

Severe protein malnutrition is capable of producing a clinically, biochemically, and histologicaly definable, mild-to-moderate malabsorption syndrome in adults. The abnormalities regress to normal with protein repletion alone. When protein malnutrition is associated with severe hookworm disease or iron-deficiency anemias or both, the concomitant presence of the latter two conditions does not influence the course of the malabsorptive state in its regression to normal with protein repletion. In the absence of concomitant protein malnutrition, neither hookworm disease nor iron-deficiency anemia causes malabsorption. The significance of these findings is discussed.