Okay this is a toughie…not even sure if this is the right place to post
My fiancee has a genetic condition known as Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP). It’s an inherited condition that’s pretty rare, but basically it causes rampant colorectal cancer sometime in the teens or early twenties. We’re not just talking a few polyps…literally millions form in the colon. The only treatment option is surgery to remove the colon, rectum, and large intestine.
She’s 25 now, so obviously, she’s had the surgery…had it around 15-16 if I remember correctly. Without the surgery you’re basically dead. Her father, for example, refused the surgery and he was dead in his early twenties. The good part, well, she basically can’t gain weight anymore. I mean she’d have to put away a ridiculous amount of food in my estimation. It just doesn’t get absorbed as best as I can tell.
I mean, I don’t wanna gross anybody out but if you don’t have a large intense or a colon…well, do the math. Your bowel movements are umm, not very solid :0
Anyways, what I was trying to figure out was just how good of a job does her body do at absorbing nutrients from food?? Due to the rarity of her condition, it’s not exactly something that is well researched. It seemed to me if her small intestine was untoouched, which it basically was, she’d be okay, but I really don’t know much about exactly how or where nutrients get absorbed in a normal human GI tract.
I keep thinking about a co-worker of my father’s who had Chrohn’s disease back in the sixties. A portion of his small intestine was removed and his body basically lost the ability to absorb vitamin B-12. As he got older he slowly ran out of B12 and he basically went from being a PhD to not being able to add two and two together…vitamin B12 shots cured him though.
I didn’t want that to happen to her though so I’m trying to figure out, if you don’t have a large intestine, and possibly the last tail end portion of your small intestine has been altered, what sort of nutrient deficiencies might one develop over time?
Could supplementation prevent these nutrient shortages?
One of the more troubling aspects in my mind is her inability to eat anything of a fibrous nature. Just a basic garden salad causes a great deal of discomfort for her. Digestive enzymes usually help a great deal, but there’s no way she could eat fruits and veggies day in and day out. So there again I’m thinking, what is she not getting by not being able to eat enough fruits/veggies?? Maybe a serving of SuperFood would do the trick 
I’m just looking for plausible theories here…thought it might even be a good subject for an article by Berardi or somebody at T-Nation.
Any other folks on the site with any kind of experience with this condition or something similar, jump in here and add your two cents.
Thanks all,
Rd