Medium chain triglycerides (MCT), principally C8-C10 fatty acids obtained from coconut oil, represent a major addition to the therapeutic armamentarium of pediatric and adult medicine. They are available commercially.
This symposium report constitutes an up-to-date review of current knowledge of the digestion, absorption, transport, and selected aspects of the metabolism of MCT as well as their use in pediatric and adult disease. The two clinical sections cover their use in such varied conditions as cystic fibrosis, absent-small-bowel, malabsorptive disorders, pancreatic disease, liver disease, a beta-lipoproteinemia, and exudative enteropathy. Six pages of practical and interesting recipes are included.
A full knowledge of the properties and body-fate of MCT are required for their discriminating use and perforce one is surveying anew these same parameters for long chain triglycerides and fatty acids. Thus, one obtains an extra dividend from the book.
The discussions after each of the four sections are uniformly good, being