Fructose Malabsorption - Diagnosis is Easy
What is Fructose?
Fructose is a type of sugar, and it is a component part of many of the foods that most people eat on a daily basis. There are many different types of sugars, including fructose, glucose, lactose and sucrose. Fructose is higher in some foods than others. The typical types of foods that are high in fructose include fruits such as apples and vegetables such as onions and leeks. Some specialist food manufacturers are getting better at catering for fructose malabsorption and are now leaving onion out of some products, or adding dextrose to foods which are high in fructose so they can be safely consumed. For example, SIlly Yaks bakes a number of their products to cater to celiac disease and fructose malabsorption.
About Fructose Malabsorption
Fructose malabsorption occurs when a person’s body is not able to properly break down fructose when it is eaten. The digestion of fructose leads to the production of hydrogen, and this can cause digestive upsets such as bloating, abdominal pain and gas. For many people, the symptoms can appear quite similar to the early signs of celiac disease. Fructose malabsorption tends to link with celiac disease, and it is becoming more widely recognised that both children and adults who have celiac disease may also have this condition too. For more about celiac disease in children and how to cater to their needs, try this article.
Testing for Fructose Malabsorption
So how do I know if I have the double act of celiac disease and fructose malabsorption, you ask yourself? Well there are several approaches which can be taken here. The first is to confirm that you do in fact have celiac disease. Generally a diagnosis of celiac disease is made through a biopsy which gives a fairly definitive answer. Next is to check that if you are definitely celiac, that you do not have any gluten slipping into your diet somewhere. Check your cooking processes, ingredients and utensils to make sure there is no cross contamination. Ask your doctor to check your blood levels with a screening test for celiac disease markers that will show if you are eating gluten without being aware of it.
If the above checks don’t show any problems, then look further into the fructose issue. Make an appointment with a dietician to talk about fructose and get some professional advice about testing for fructose malabsorption. Testing can be done simply and easily with a hydrogen breath test which takes about three hours. You drink a solution which contains a known quantity of fructose and then breathe every so often into a bag which measures your hydrogen output in your breath. This will show quickly and easily whether the fructose you have consumed has produced an excess of hydrogen gas.
A word of caution - the breath test might seem like a fairly boring way of passing a few hours, but it is certainly worth doing. Changing your diet and then basing your future food consumption on symptoms alone is problematic, as you have not ruled out any other potential issues which could be causing the problem. By avoiding the breath test you are also further limiting an already restrictive diet, perhaps unnecessarily. The breath test is definitely the way to go!