Hello and welcome, Steatorrhea (fat malabsorbtion) is the presence of fat in the stool. If the stool is foul smelling, bulky and hard to flush suggestive for steatorrhea. There are many conditions that may cause steatorrhea. If you experienced the condition once and do not have any other clinical symptoms this might be from excessive fat meal. But recurrent steatorrhea with abdominal pain, weight loss, diarrhea or bloating needs further clinical investigation. Steatorrhea might be from the conditions that fats are not properly digested (pancreatic deficiency, gallbladder or biliary tract, liver problems) or the problem might be in the gut that cannot absorb dietary fats (Celiac disease, Whipple disease, parasitic or bacterial diseases, IBS etc). I would like to know more about your symptoms in order to help with your condition and would like to ask few questions: -Have you encountered with this problem for the first time? -Did you experience abdominal pain, bloating or flatulence? -Have you noticed weight loss, or itching in the skin? -Do you drink alcohol, or taking any other medications? -Have you had abdominal surgery before? Additional investigations (fecal elastase, d-xylose etc) can only be ordered only after proper disease history and confirming steatorrhea in a doctor’s office. Celiac diseases - hypersensitivity to gluten (wheat products) also causes fat malabsorbtion and commonly presents with diarrhea, weight lost and abdominal distention. It can be diagnosed with anti-tissue glutaminase test and small bowel biopsy. IBS also presents with abdominal pain and change in the stool pattern. Diagnosis of IBS is clinical. One might be diagnosed with IBS if had recurrent abdominal pain at least 1 day/week in the last 3 months with the change in the appearance or in the frequency of stool. Please, feel free to ask me more if there is anything else you need to know. Thank you, Malik Amonov MD