9) Fatty Food Intolerance
Intolerance towards fatty food is a common symptom of gastric ulcers. A person with gastric ulcers is unable to digest fats, and this leads to oily or greasy stools, medically known as “steatorrhea”. Although fatty stools are more common in other gastrointestinal diseases like celiac disease and ulcerative colitis, they can also develop in patients with stomach or duodenal ulcers. These stools have a characteristic smell and they are difficult to flush. The reason behind fatty food intolerance is the absence of enzymes that digest fats.
Fatty stools rob the body of many important micronutrients such as fat-soluble vitamins (Vitamin A, D, K, and E). A deficiency of these important vitamins can lead to several conditions such as night blindness (due to vitamin A deficiency), malabsorption of calcium and phosphate (due to vitamin D deficiency), deranged functions of blood clotting factors (due to vitamin K deficiency), and disorientation and muscle weakness (due to the deficiency of vitamin E). Furthermore, with steatorrhea comes malabsorption due to diarrhea caused by the undigested fats. Chronic malabsorption along with the loss of appetite can lead to weight loss.
