The use of medium-chain triglyceride in children with intestinal malabsorption.

Medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) are fats in which the chain length is six 
to twelve carbon atoms. This is in contrast to the more 
usual dietary sources of fats, long-chain triglycerides (LCT), which contain more 
than 14 carbon atoms in their atomic chain. The differences in 
chemical structure between LCT and MCT are important because they are 
related to major differences in the characteristics of absorption and metabolism 
of these two classes of lipids. These physiological differences between LCT 
and MCT have led to the use of MCT in various 
disorders where malabsorption of LCT occurs but where MCT can be 
absorbed because they bypass several of the steps necessary for the 
absorption of long chain fats. These include pancreatic disease, chronic liver 
disease, disorders of the biliary tract and diseases of the small 
intestinal epithelium and lymphatic vessels. The comments which follow are a 
brief summary of the therapeutic place of MCT in children with 
malabsorption. This will be followed by some remarks about the potential 
value of MCT in countries like Indonesia where the commonest cause 
of chronic diarrhoea and malabsorption in children is malnutrition and chronic 
and repeated gastrointestinal infections and infestations and where MCT has not 
been used widely. 