Small intestine in protein malnutrition

Abstract

Fourteen adult patients whose main presenting features were edema, hypoproteinemia, and a dietary history of deficient intake of protein formed the material for the present study. They showed diarrhea, intestinal absorption defects, and structural alterations in the villi of jejunal biopsy specimens. They all had anemia and a little over one-half of them showed megaloblastosis in the bone marrow. After the base-line studies they were all treated with a diet containing 100 g of protein a day. Progressive improvement took place in all patients over a period of 3 months, clinically, hematologically, and in respect to intestinal absorptive function tests and intestinal mucosal histology. It is concluded that structural and functional disturbances occur in protein deficiency in adults as in children with kwashiorkor, and it is suggested that chronic protein malnutrition in adults may be an important factor in the genesis of the tropical malabsorption syndrome.