Why is there oil in the stool?

If there is oil in the stool, you should be careful. This is called steatorrhea. The cause of steatorrhea is the weakened digestive function of the small intestine, and some nutrients cannot be fully absorbed and then metabolized. The more common ones are liver and gallbladder diseases, intestinal diseases and pancreatic diseases. If this phenomenon occurs frequently, you should go to the hospital for regular examination in time to avoid greater harm to your health.

Why is there oil in the stool?

Experts say that oily stools are a common manifestation of abnormal stool, commonly known as steatorrhea. Steatorrhea refers to a clinical syndrome of nutritional deficiency caused by reduced digestion and absorption function of the small intestine due to various reasons, resulting in the inability to fully absorb nutrients and their excretion in the feces. It is also called indigestion syndrome.

Because the patient excretes too much fat in the stool, it is also called small intestinal malabsorption, also known as oily diarrhea. There are many causes, such as malabsorption syndrome, bile salt and pancreatic digestive enzyme deficiency, enteritis or diverticulosis, intestinal fat metabolism disorder, gastrinoma or inability of lacteals to absorb fat. The stool of typical steatorrhea is light in color, large in volume, greasy or foamy, often floats on the water surface, and often has a foul odor. The specific causes are as follows:

1. Hepatobiliary diseases

It is more common in extrahepatic bile duct obstruction or intrahepatic bile duct obstruction among biliary obstruction diseases, because bile duct obstruction is most likely to cause bile retention and changes in bile composition, which leads to a significant decrease in the bile acid concentration in the intestinal cavity, thereby affecting the digestive effects of fat hydrolysis and fatty acid decomposition, forcing fat to be excreted from the stool and causing steatorrhea.

2. Intestinal diseases

Various intestinal infections, extensive small intestine resection, primary small intestinal lymphoma, small intestinal ischemia caused by arteriosclerosis, intestinal lipid metabolism syndrome, eosinophilic gastroenteritis, food allergies, etc. may damage the digestive function of the small intestinal mucosal epithelial cells and cause steatorrhea.

3. Pancreatic disease

Chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer in pancreatic lesions. This is mainly due to a significant decrease in pancreatic lipase secretion by the pancreas, which leads to fat indigestion and causes a large amount of fatty substances to be excreted in the stool.

4. Endocrine diseases

Steatorrhea may also occur in patients with endocrine diseases such as adrenal insufficiency, hypothyroidism, and even in a small number of hyperthyroidism patients. This is because endocrine disorders can easily lead to lipid metabolism disorders, resulting in steatorrhea.

5. Others

β-lipoproteinemia, γ-globulinemia, subtotal gastrectomy, and scleroderma can also easily lead to decreased fat metabolism function and steatorrhea.