title: Rhamnose and rhamnitol in dual sugar permeability tests.
abstract: Rhamnose is one of the sugars regularly used to conduct the dual sugar permeability test. For more than 30 years, it has been assumed that rhamnose is an inert sugar not metabolized by the human body and only fermented by some colonic bacteria into rhamnulose. While conducting an investigation on gut permeability in children undergoing cardiac surgery, increased concentrations of rhamnitol were found in the urine samples. The present report suggests that rhamnose is not an inert sugar and it is partially metabolized into rhamnitol by the human body.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands. jmalagon@lumc.nl
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Malagon
authors.forename: Willem
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Onkenhout
authors.forename: Margreet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klok
authors.forename: Petrus F H
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: van der Poel
authors.forename: James G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Bovill
authors.forename: Mark G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Hazekamp
mesh_terms: D003938:Diagnostic Techniques, Digestive System; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*; D010539:Permeability; D012210:Rhamnose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D012210:Rhamnose