SIBO & fructose malabsorption

[faze_action]

I'm going to try one more time with this and see if it gets a response. Maybe 3rd time's the charm. (I'm trying to post this in the expert forum; not confident it'll end up there, so apologies for the repetition).

I have heard that fructose malabsorption can cause SIBO (Bacterial overgrowth).
Can the reverese happen? (Sibo causing fructmal by potentially damaging the epithelial lining of the small intestine) .

Thanks...

[jkacoupons]

I have come to the same question as yourself, and am very inclined to think that yes, FructMal (as well as LactoseMal and other FODMAPs issues) ARE either the result of SIBO (whether or not SIBO has cause damage to the intestinal lining) or simply a misinterpretation of SIBO. The following NCBI article is very interesting on the subject: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15932370

"CONCLUSION: In irritable bowel syndrome patients with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, sugar breath tests may be falsely abnormal. Eradication of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth normalizes sugar breath tests in the majority of patients. Testing for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth should be performed before other sugar breath tests tests to avoid sugar malabsorption misdiagnosis."

[ng1031]

I wonder if they go hand in hand seeing that sugars feed bacteria..

[brinyskysail]

Hi.  I have fructmal and I believe that I have SIBO.  I'm definitely no expert in the area, but I completely believe that SIBO could cause fructmal; infact that's how I think I got it.  SIBO results in an impaired ability of the small intestine to absorb nutrients from food, and fructmal is an inability of the small intestine to absorb fructose so it seems logical that SIBO could result in fructmal.  Anything that alters proper function of the digestive system quickly leads to other problems.  Good luck figuring everything out.  I've been dealing with these problems for years, had to drop out of college, and am unable to work so I understand how frustrating it can be.

[faze_action]

Thanks for your response.

Fructose malabsorption is different from fructose intolerance. FI is a rare, hereditary disease that actually can cause liver damage/failure. Fructose malabsorption is a digestive disorder that is classified as a "fuctional GI" issue. There are actually some studies that show that fructmal can cause SIBO.
What I'm curious about is if the reverse can happen (SIBO causing fructmal as opposed to vice versa).

Thanks for trying though...and for clarifying that there is no GI in the expert forum.

[patient915]

Welcome to the gastroenterology community!  Currently there is no doctor answering questions in the gastroenterology expert forum.  From my research on SIBO (which I know some about because I had it for a while), I don't believe it would be caused by a fructose intolerance.

[faze_action]

Disregard this... I was posting in the expert forum, and apparently when stuff gets submitted there it automatically gets shunted here. This is the third time I've asked this here (trying to post in the forum), so I don't expect anyone to answer.