Long chain fatty acids are a fecal fat. Fecal fats also include triglycerides, cholesterol and phospholipids. They are derived predominately from the dietary ingestion of fat, and provide important clues about digestion and absorption.
– Long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) are broken down by pancreatic lipase from dietary triglycerides and are normally readily absorbed by the intestinal mucosa.
– Long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) are normally readily absorbed in a healthy mucosa.
Understand and improve your laboratory results with our health dashboard.
Upload your lab reports and get interpretation today.
Our technology helps to understand, combine, track, organize, and act on your medical lab test results.
Long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) are broken down by pancreatic lipase from dietary triglycerides and are normally readily absorbed by the intestinal mucosa. Elevated levels in the stool suggest fat malabsorption in the small bowel, possibly resulting from bile salt insufficiency, excessive dietary fat, or inflammation within the intestinal mucosa.
Physiological imbalances or disorders that impair lipase activity and bile acid production and release can lead to malabsorption.
Consider the following conditions to help determine the cause of impaired absorption:
– Pancreatic insufficiency (specifically lipase)
– Cholestasis (e.g., bilary obstruction or liver disease)
– Interrupted enterohepatic circulation (e.g., ileal disease or bile salt deconjugation from small bowel bacterial overgrowth)
– Celiac disease
– Short bowel syndrome
– Whipple’s disease (rare)
In general, an elevation in any one of the fecal fat markers is suggestive of malabsorption.
Consider also the following additional tests to help determine the underlying etiology:
– Celiac Panel
– Bacterial Overgrowth of the Small Intestine Breath Test
– Intestinal Permeability Profile
Interpret Your Lab Results
Upload your lab report and we’ll interpret and provide you with recomendations today.
Get StartedGet Started With Our Personal Plan
Advanced Plan
Unlimited Plan
Are You a Health Professional?
Get started with our professional plan
Welcome to Healthmatters Pro.
Save time on interpreting lab results with the largest database of biomarkers online. In-depth research on any test at your fingertips, all stored and tracked in one place. Learn more
Pro Plan
for health professionals
$45 per month
At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.
Acetate, Akkermansia muciniphila, Anaerotruncus colihominis, Anaerotruncus colihominis/massiliensis, Ancylostoma/Necator (Hookworm), Ascaris lumbricoides, Bacteroides uniformis, Bacteroides vulgatus, Bacteroides-Prevotella group, Barnesiella spp., Beta-glucuronidase, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum, Bifidobacterium spp., Blastocystis spp., Butyrivibrio crossotus, Calprotectin, Candida albicans/dubliniensis, Capillaria philippinensis, Cholesterol, Citrobacter species, Clostridium spp., Collinsella aerofaciens, Coprococcus eutactus, Cryptosporidium parvum/hominis, Cyclospora cayetanensis, Desulfovibrio piger, Dientamoeba fragilis, Entamoeba histolytica, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterobius vermicularis, Enterococcus faecalis, Eosinophil Protein X, Escherichia coli, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Fecal Color, Fecal Consistency, Fecal Fat, Total, Fecal Occult Blood, Fecal secretory IgA, Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B Ratio), Fusobacterium spp., Giardia, Klebsiella oxytoca, Klebsiella species, Lactobacillus spp., Long-Chain Fatty Acids, Methanobrevibacter smithii, n-Butyrate %, n-Butyrate Concentration, Odoribacter spp., Oxalobacter formigenes, Pancreatic Elastase 1, Phocaeicola vulgatus, Phospholipids, Prevotella spp., Products of Protein Breakdown (Total), Propionate, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudoflavonifractor spp., Roseburia spp., Ruminococcus bromii, Ruminococcus spp., Short-Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA), Total, Triglycerides, Veillonella spp., Zonulin Family Peptide