WHAT IS A PROTEIN-LOSING ENTEROPATHY? “Protein-losing
Enteropathy” is a another way of saying there is something wrong with
the intestine such that protein is being lost from the body through the
intestine. This is a serious problem as the body’s proteins are not
easily replaced and the only way to replace them involves the
absorption of protein constituents (the amino acids that make up
proteins) from the intestine. If the intestine is actually leaking
nutrients out instead of absorbing them in, the result is a nutritional
disaster.
The main protein
which one cannot afford to lose is called “Albumin.” This protein
normally is produced by one’s liver and circulates in the bloodstream
acting as a carrier for biochemicals that require transport but cannot
actually dissolve in blood. Albumin can be considered sort of a mass
transit system in the bloodstream, a bus or subway, if you will,
carrying important biochemicals from one place to another.
Albumin, by
being the most prevalent blood protein, also is responsible for
actually keeping water in one’s bloodstream. When water cannot be
held within the vasculature, it leaks out causing fluid accumulation in
tissue (i.e. edema) or in within the chest or abdomen (i.e. effusion).
Of course, in a
protein-losing enteropathy, other proteins are lost, too. Antibodies,
proteins of blood clotting, enzymes, etc. all leak out the intestine
and are forever lost in the feces that exits the body.
The body tries
hard to maintain its albumin level by extracting protein from other
sources (like muscle), and having the liver make albumin from the
components of these other proteins. This may help maintain a
workable amount of albumin in the bloodstream but it comes at the
expense of muscle tissue and other protein.
There
are four main cases of protein-losing enteropathy:
