Relationship between disturbances of micellar formation and steatorrhea

In order to clarify the correlation between decrease in micellar formation and degree of steatorrhea, upper intestinal content was analyzed after administering a test meal of Borgström et al. Fecal fat was also measured. It was demonstrated that micellar phase was composed chiefly of fatty acid and monoglyceride, with low concentrations of diglyceride and triglyceride. The fat composition of micellar phase was nearly constant in normal subjects and in cases of malabsorption syndrome. The correlation between the ratio of micellar fat to the whole ingested fat in the intestinal content and daily excretion of fecal fat was very marked.