Quantification of intestinal functions during fasting: estimations of bile salt turnover, fecal calcium and nitrogen excretions

The effects of acute clostridium difficile diarrhea on fecal nitrogen content in adult hospitalized patients

Clostridium difficile diarrhea (CDD) is a frequent cause of hospital-associated infectious diarrhea and a common reason for nutritional consultation. Limited data are available on fecal nitrogen losses during infectious diarrhea in adults. Eleven patients with acute CDD were studied for stool volume and fecal nitrogen. The mean stool output was 630 +/- 110 g/day and fecal nitrogen 2.5 +/- 0.3 g per 24 hour period (mean +/- SEM). Fecal nitrogen loss was increased from the predicted 12.0 mg/kg BW/day to 38.0 +/- 5.9 mg/kg BW/day. Fecal nitrogen loss in CDD can be an important source of nitrogen loss and should be measured in nitrogen balance studies in such patients.

Altered bile acid metabolism in vegetarians

Bile acid kinetics were studied in a group of healthy vegetarians and a matched group of healthy control subjects. The daily fractional turnover rate of cholic acid was significantly smaller in the vegetarians than in the controls and deoxycholic acid pool size was significantly smaller in the vegetarians than in the controls. The data suggest that enterohepatic conservation of cholic acid is more efficient in vegetarians than in control subjects resulting in decreased deoxycholic acid input in vegetarian subjects. The possible significance of these data to intestinal oncogenesis is discussed.