Undigested Fats – what does that mean?

We hear about fats all the time. Healthy fats, saturated fats, avocados v cheese, etc. How do undigested fats negatively affect our immune systems? Did you know that they did in the first place?

Undigested fats are a major issue in the body and its immune system.

Undigested fats begin with a dysfunction of the gallbladder. The gallbladder’s purpose is to “store, concentrate, and deliver bile into the duodenum” (Tortora & Derrickson, 2015). If the gallbladder is in dysfunction and fails to help deliver bile, fats fail to digest/absorb. 

When there are undigested fats in the body, the villi and the microvilli in the small intestine take the brunt of the problem (NTA, 2019). These undigested fats harm the villi and microvilli by essentially flattening down the villi with the sludge of undigested fats, not allowing them to do their job of helping to absorb the fats into the body and use the nutrients – as they should be. 

When these villi and microvilli aren’t working, an issue called “leaky gut syndrome” occurs (allowing some things to pass through the lining and be absorbed, in incorrect sizes, but not all proteins and fats) – therefore harming the immune system and confusing the body (NTA, 2019). 

The next organ that is affected is the large intestine. When undigested fats (or other undigested foods) go in to the large intestine, the ileocecal valve (the valve the connects the small intestine to the large intestine and passes food into the colon) can get clogged and can’t be passed through (NTA, 2019). Now, the foods are sitting in the colon and hurting the natural state of the colon “causing dysbiosis and disrupting the health flora”, stopping the creation of butyric acid and hurting the functionality of the colon (NTA, 2019). Now the colon can be inflamed (diverticula – inflammation of the colon from the muscular walls being too weak) and can lead to many issues such as: IBS, Crohn’s Disease, Colitis, and Celiac Disease (NTA, 2019). 

Resources 

Nutritional Therapy Association. Digestion and Elimination. Retrieved April 7, 2019.

Tortora, G. J., & Derrickson, B. (2015). Introduction to the human body: The essentials of anatomy and physiology(10th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.