Other causes: Drugs that can produce steatorrhea include orlistat, a slimming pill, or as adverse effect of octreotide or lanreotide, used to treat acromegaly or other neuroendocrine tumors. It can be found in Graves disease / hyperthyroidism. Medications
Orlistat (also known by trade names Xenical and Alli) is a diet pill that works by blocking the enzymes that digest fat. As a result, some fat cannot be absorbed from the gut and is excreted in the feces instead of being metabolically digested and absorbed, sometimes causing oily anal leakage. Vytorin (ezetimibe/simvastatin) tablets can cause steatorrhea in some people. Excess whole nuts in diet
Some studies have shown that stool lipids are increased when whole nuts are eaten, compared to nut butters, oils or flour and that lipids from whole nuts are significantly less well absorbed. Natural fats
Consuming jojoba oil has been documented to cause steatorrhea and anal leakage because it is indigestible.Consuming escolar and oilfish (sometimes mislabelled as butterfish) will often cause steatorrhea, also referred to as Gempylotoxism or Gempylid Fish Poisoning or keriorrhea. Artificial fats
The fat substitute Olestra, used to reduce digestible fat in some foods, was reported to cause leakage in some consumers during the test-marketing phase. As a result, the product was reformulated before general release to a hydrogenated form that is not liquid at physiologic temperature. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning indicated excessive consumption of Olestra could result in "loose stools"; however, this warning has not been required since 2003. Diagnosis
Steatorrhea should be suspected when the stools are bulky, floating and foul-smelling.
Specific tests are needed to confirm that these properties are in fact due to excessive levels of fat. Fats in feces can be measured over a defined time (often five days). Other tests include the (13)C-mixed triglycerides test and fecal elastase, to detect possible fat maldigestion due to exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, or various specific tests to detect other causes of malabsorption such as celiac disease. Treatment
Treatments are mainly correction of the underlying cause, as well as digestive enzyme supplements. See also
Rectal discharge
Keriorrhea
Fecal leakage
Steatocrit

References


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