The Vitamin A Absorption Test II. Studies on Children and Adults with Disorders in the Alimentary Tract

Abstract

Kahan, J. 1970. The Vitamin A Absorption Test. II. Studies on Children and Adults with Disorders in the Alimentary Tract. Scand. J. Gastroent, 5, 5-12. Standardized vitamin A absorption tests were performed on 221 patients with varying disorders in the alimentary tract. Pathological tests were found in the patients with biliary obstruction, as well as in the patients with marked impairment of the exocrine pancreatic or intestinal functions. Consideration of the serum β-lipoprotein level in the evaluation of the test reduced the overlapping in the test results between the patient and the control groups, especially in children. The results of the vitamin A absorption test correlated fairly well with those of the butter-fat absorption test and with the estimations of faecal fat, despite some discrepancies occurring, e.g. in mild steatorrhoea.

Key-words:

• Absorption tests
• biliary tract diseases, gastrointestinal diseases
• lipoproteins
• malabsorption
• pancreatic diseases
• vitamin A