Big appetite with Poor weight gain
Another common symptom of cystic fibrosis is weight gain. This happens even after getting enough calories and eating enough food. The patients crave more food and have a big appetite, but still does not gain weight; the reason is the body’s inability to take certain nutrients that can cause malabsorption. The sticky mucus does not allow proper absorption of nutrients and fat in the intestine that results in poor digestion and poor weight gain. These patients need extra calories. Poor weight gain has mostly been observed in the children. The patients suffer from pancreatic insufficiency, which means an enzyme that digests carbohydrates and proteins do not pass into the intestine. Therefore the body does not digest food properly and faces malabsorption and poor weight gain.