Letter: Essential-fatty-acid metabolism in cystic fibrosis.

In an investigation of the effects of intestinal malabsorption on plasma-lipids, we 
compared the fatty-acid composition of the serum-lecithin of 23 patients with 
malabsorption from a variety of different causes and found similar changes 
irrespective of the underlying cause of the malabsorption. The only exception 
to this was that classical E.F.A. deficiency was found only in 
patients whose malabsorption was due to massive small-bowel resection. All other 
causes of malabsorption gave rise to changes identical to those found 
by other workers in C.F.; there is thus no reason to 
postulate an additional metabolic abnormality specific to C.F. The relatively normal 
amounts of arachidonic acid reported in some E.F.A. deficient patients may 
not be entirely due to arachidonic acid. 