A trial of chitosan in seven healthy males assessed fat absorption, as measured by fecal fat excretion.
Participants were placed on a diet containing more than 120 g of fat per day for 12 days; during the treatment phase (days 6–9), the participants also received 5.25 g of chitosan daily.
Fecal samples were col- lected daily on days 2 through 12.
There was no significant difference in mean ± S.D. fecal fat excretion between the place- bo and treatment periods (6.0 ± 1.0 ver- sus 6.8 ± 0.4 g/day), nor were there sig- nificant differences in fecal mass or body weight. No adverse reactions to chitosan were reported.