Chronic environmental enteropathy in a temperate climate

Forty-three apparently healthy young adult male volunteers underwent an evaluation of their nutritional status, blood chemistry and faecal excretion of enteropathogens, which did not reveal current malnutrition or illnesses. Ten of them were further studied for small intestinal histology, culture of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in the duodenal juice, disaccharidase activities, glucose absorption and faecal excretion of fat and nitrogen. The study revealed mild morphological changes associated with the appearance of anaerobic bacteria in the upper intestine, decreased glucose transport and increased faecal losses of nitrogen. Although all these changes were rather mild, they may be significant for people whose diet is of borderline nutritional quality.