Study on pancreatic insufficiency (chronic pancreatitis) and steatorrhea in Japanese patients with low fat intake

The incidence of steatorrhea is said to be lower and its grade milder in Ja panese because their fat intake is lower than that of Europeans and America ns. Failure to take this into account creates difficulties when attempting to compare data on pancreatic exocrine insufficiency in different countries . The authors examined the incidence and grade of steatorrhea in Japanese c hronic pancreatitis (CP) patients whose daily fat intake was < 40 g (25 pat ients) or greater than or equal to 40g (35 patients). In addition, 23 CP pa tients with steatorrhea and daily fecal fat excretion greater than or equal to 5g were given a pancreatic enzyme preparation at a dose 3-8 times highe r than the usual dose to investigate its effect on fecal fat excretion. Amo ng CP patients whose fat intake was < 40 g, the incidence of fecal fat excr etion < 5 g was 56% and that of fecal fat excretion greater than or equal t o 10g (severe steatorrhea) was 8%. In CP patients whose fat intake was grea ter than or equal to 40 g, the incidences were 27.9 and 34.9%, respectively ; a significant increase in the number of affected patients was noted when fat intake was greater than or equal to 40 g. The fat absorption rate was 7 6.2% among patients whose fat intake was < 40 g and 77.8% among patients wh ose fat intake was greater than or equal to 40 g, revealing no significant difference between the two groups. The proportion of CP patients whose fat absorption rate less than or equal to 80% was 32% Eat a fat intake <40 g an d 39% at a fat intake greater than or equal to 40 g, revealing no significa nt difference between the two groups.