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The article presents recommendations and guidelines for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures of selected diseases of the gastrointestinal tract that may affect the absorption and digestion of nutritional ingredients. Selected aspects relate to diseases such as: lactose intolerance, bacterial overgrowth of intestinal flora and celiac disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Celiac disease is a chronic enteropathy of small intestine, affecting people of all ages. It is described as an autoimmune reaction to gluten from most cereals. The classic form of the disease is characterized by symptoms of malabsorption. However, due to a large variety of clinical and non-specific symptoms many cases of celiac disease remain undiagnosed and untreated. The symptoms of the disease occurring in the oral cavity can be divided into enamel erosion and changes in the mucous membrane in the form of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). Treatment consists of complete elimination of gluten from the diet. Otherwise it may lead to the development of lymphomas and the emergence of a refractory form of celiac disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oral administration of drugs is the most common, the most comfortable, and the safest route of drug delivery. Absorption of drugs given orally takes place mainly in the small intestine; chronic diseases affecting this part of the gastrointestinal tract may thus lead to clinically important alterations in pharmacokinetics. As the extent and the rate of drug absorption as well as other pharmacokinetic processes are influenced simultaneously by many factors, it is not always possible to predict the pattern of drug malabsorption from knowledge of the physicochemical properties of the drug and the pathophysiology of the gut disorder. Pharmacotherapy, predominately the route of drug administration, may require modification in the presence of an altered intestinal function, but, due to the complexity of the problem, it is difficult to create universal guidelines for the oral administration of drugs in patients with malabsorption syndrome. Therefore, therapeutic drug monitoring by measuring clinical and laboratory parameters and, in some situations, also serum levels of administered drugs is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypothyroidism is a common problem in clinical practice. Regardless of its cause, selecting the individual dose of levothyroxin (L-T4) for each patient is crucial for replacement therapy. The occurrence of symptoms despite proper treatment is a result of the patient's noncompliance rather than malabsorption in the gastrointestinal tract, drug interaction, or, exceptionally, congenital resistance to thyroid hormones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hereditary glucose-galactose malabsorption is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of glucose and galactose intestinal transport. Mutation in the SGLT1 gene is responsible for the dysfunction of intestinal sodium/glucose cotransporter. It results in watery diarrhea, dehydration, metabolic acidosis or even early death in infancy unless glucose and galactose are eliminated from the diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]