[What is the status of fermentation diarrhea?]

Diarrhoea "whith" bacterial fermentation is characterized by acidic liquid stools containing high amounts of organic acids. Carbohydrate malabsorption is the main cause; the mechanism of diarrhoea is an osmotic one, and colonic fermentation does reduce the diarrhoea. It is unlikely that starch malabsorption induces significant diarrhoea, whereas the consumption of high amounts of fibers is responsible for a "physiologic" diarrhoea. Colonic fermentations increase diarrhoea due to organic colitis and the "diarrhées motrices". They can be responsible for some intestinal symptoms in patients with the irritable bowel syndrome. This does not imply a "hyperfermentative" process due to a hypothetical disturbance of colonic microbial ecology.