They have shown that patients with chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer may malabsorb carbohydrate, but the amount malabsorbed had not been quantified.

Although patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency malabsorb 10%-30% of the ingested complex carbohydrate, the main determinant of stool wet weight could be faecal fat.

In conclusion, we have shown that patients with chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer, who have mild to moderate fat malabsorption, may malabsorb up to one third of the ingested carbohydrate.

Vitamin B is absorbed in the last part of the small bowel, the ileum, and patients who malabsorb vitamin B can develop a megaloblastic anemia with large red blood cells.

According to Dr. Jonathan Collin, an orthomolecular physician, "A zinc deficiency causes the intestine to malabsorb, which is an underlying cause of food allergies and many degenerative diseases."

Because 10 to 30 percent of older people may malabsorb food-bound vitamin B12, it is advisable for those older than 50 years to meet the RDA mainly by consuming foods fortified with vitamin B12 or a supplement containing vitamin B12.

Based on pioneer work by Fogel and Gray, the notion that symptomatic carbohydrate malabsorption is uncommon in patients with chronic pancreatitis has not been challenged until recently, when it has been noticed that patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency may malabsorb complex carbohydrate.