Monday July 12 Homework
1. Explain how osmotic diarrhea occurs and why. What kinds of chemicals set up the osmotic gradient (more solute in the lumen where the food is in the small intestine)? Osmotic diarrhea occurs when too many solutes are left in the intestinal lumen. Because water "follows" the solutes, water is drawn into the lumen creating diarrhea. Some of the chemicals involved may be an excessive amount of Mg salts, Vitamin C, manitol, or sorbitol. Osmotic diarrhea may also occur in the case of malabsorption when certain types of carbohydrates (e.g. lactose) are not able to be absorbed.
2. How can you counteract osmotic diarrhea?
Osmotic diarrhea can be counteracted by removing the offending substrate from the diet. In the case of lactose, supplemental lactase may help with the symptoms.
Osmotic diarrhea occurs because to much solute is left in the intestine. This results in the concentration of solutes in the capillaries outside of the intestinal wall to be lower than the concentration inside. Water moves from higher concentrations to lower concentrations. Therefore the water is retained in the intestine and you end up with diarrhea.
ReplyDeleteYou can counteract osmotic diarrhea by monitoring your diet. If certain food or drinks give you diarrhea you likely are not absorbing the solutes before the food solutes get to the large intestine. For example, people often have a hard time absorbing the to much lactose or sugar alcohols.