Home > Encyclopedia of Children's Health > Lipidoses

Definition

Lipidoses are genetic disorders, passed from parents to their children, characterized by defects of the digestive system that impair the way the body uses dietary fat. When the body is unable to properly digest fats, lipids accumulate in body tissues in abnormal amounts.

Description

The digestion, storage, and use of fats (lipids) from foods are complex processes that involve hundreds of chemical reactions in the body. In most people, the body is already programmed by its genetic code to produce all of the enzymes and chemicals necessary to carry out these functions. These genetic instructions are passed from parents to their offspring.

People with lipidoses are born without the genetic codes needed to tell their bodies how to complete a particular part of the fat...