Effect of systemic infection and raised serum Ig-G concentration on the D-xylose test

Urinary d-xylose excretion during five hours after a 25 gm. oral load was determined in 47 Zambian African patients; some had systemic infections. Serum albumin, total globulin and gamma-globulin concentrations were determined in all and immunoglobulins Ig-G, Ig-A, Ig-M and Ig-D in 36 of them. An inverse association between weight of xylose excreted and serum gamma-globulin (P less than 0.02) and Ig-G (P less than 0.002) concentrations was significant. Taken together with previous observations, those results indicate reduced xylose absorption in the presence of systemic infection. The mechanism of the association is unknown but seems likely to have a nutritional importance; systemic infections must be eradicated if the nutritional status of rural Africans is to be improved.