Monosaccharide intolerance and hypoglycemia in infants with diarrbea. I. Clinical course of 23 infants

Twenty-three patients had monosaccharide intolerance after an episode of gastroenteritis. The feces were liquid, acid, and contained carbohydrates as long as the diet provided sugar of any sort. When carbohydrates were eliminated from the diet, the diarrhea improved. However, hypoglycemia complicated the clinical courses of 17 patients when they were fed carbohydrate-free diets, and it was considered to be the cause of death in 3 of these infants. The malabsorption of monosaccharides was transient, varying in duration from a few days to several weeks. These patients were also unable to tolerate disaccharides during the time that they had monosaccharide intolerance. The ability to tolerate monosaccharides was often correlated with the presence of bacteria in the duodenal fluid. After antibiotic therapy, some of thes infants recovered the capacity to tolerate carbohydrates.