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Our objective was to investigate the relationship between demographic factors, nutrition, stool gas production, and the existence of infantile colic (IC) syndrome. Hydrogen and methane production from stool specimens of infants with and without infantile colic was quantified at two separate time points, the age at presentation of colic ( 2 ppm by 15.3% of the infants at age 6 months. The mean methane concentrations produced by stool increased with age (0.95 ± 0.58 ppm at 3 months of age vs 1.29 ± 0.65 ppm at 6 months of age. There was no difference in stool hydrogen concentration between infants with and without IC. In contrast, the mean methane level at 3 and 6 months of age was higher in infants without IC than with IC, but reached statistical significance only at 6 months of age (0.97 ± 0.68 vs 0.93 ± 0.46) (NS) at 3 months of age, and 1.56 ± 0.55 vs 0.93 ± 0.62 (P

Iron supplementation is one of the principal therapies in inflammatory bowel disease. Iron is a major prooxidative agent; therefore therapeutic iron as well as heme iron from chronic mucosal bleeding can increase the iron-mediated oxidative stress in colitis by facilitating the Fenton reaction, namely production of hydroxyl radicals. In the present study colitis was induced in the iodoacetamide rat model. Forty male Whistar rats were divided into four groups, each group receiving a different diet regimen in parallel with colitis induction: Malondialdehyde was measured to assess the degree of tissue oxidative stress. There were microscopic changes, and significantly more severe colitis was seen in colonic biopsies when iron was supplemented. It was concluded that iron supplementation can amplify the inflammatory response and enhance the subsequent mucosal damage in a rat model of colitis. We suggest that the resultant oxidative stress generated by iron supplementation leads to the extension and propagation of crypt abscesses.

The D-xylose absorption test has been used during the last four decades for evaluation of malabsorption in the small intestine. However, some disagreement still exists about the recommended method of performing this test: the 1-hr blood test, the 5-hr urine test, or both. We evaluated the test by performing 125 combined blood and urine tests in 111 patients. Normal xylose absorption was recorded in both blood and urine in 71 tests (group A, 56.8%). Abnormal test results in both blood and urine were recorded in 29 patients (group B, 23.2%). Only one patient had a pathological blood value and normal xylose excretion in the urine. Twenty-four patients (group D, 19.2%) had normal 1-hr blood xylose (greater than 25 mg/100 ml) with abnormal 5-hr urine xylose (less than 4.5 g/5 hr). Fat and/or bile salt malabsorption were documented in 21 patients (87.5%) of this group using stool fat analysis and the [14C]cholylglycine breath test. These data suggest that in adults the 5-hr urine collection more accurately reflects intestinal absorption in comparison with the 1-hr blood value.

Our objective was to investigate the relationship between demographic factors, nutrition, stool gas production, and the existence of infantile colic (IC) syndrome. Hydrogen and methane production from stool specimens of infants with and without infantile colic was quantified at two separate time points, the age at presentation of colic (12 weeks) and at6 months of age. The relationship between demographic variables and IC was also studied. A total of 59 infants with ages ranging from 2 to 12 weeks were enrolled in the study. Of these, 30 infants developed symptoms of colic. No correlation was found between IC and birth weight, gestational age, sex, type of feeding, mean time of feeding, stool frequency, and consistency. There was also no correlation between IC and the parents' age or education or the infant's number of siblings. Analysis of the stool samples revealed that methane was produced at concentrations2 ppm by 15.3% of the infants at age3 months and by 46.4% of infants at age6 months. The mean methane concentrations produced by stool increased with age (0.95 +/- 0.58 ppm at 3 months of age vs 1.29 +/- 0.65 ppm at 6 months of age. There was no difference in stool hydrogen concentration between infants with and without IC. In contrast, the mean methane level at 3 and 6 months of age was higher in infants without IC than with IC, but reached statistical significance only at 6 months of age (0.97 +/- 0.68 vs 0.93 +/- 0.46) (NS) at 3 months of age, and 1.56 +/- 0.55 vs 0.93 +/- 0.62 (P0.05) at 6 months of age respectively. Furthermore, infants that produced higher methane levels at 3 and 6 months of age had significantly (p0.05) less colic in the first months of life. In conclusions, methane production may play a role in the alleviation of IC. Future studies are needed to confirm our findings.