This week, I came across an article that talked about an issue I had never heard of which was LCHAD. LCHAD stands for “Long-chain 3-hydroxy acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase” which in simple terms refers to a rare metabolic disorder. There are numerous disorders that affect the way eat, but this disorder is extremely specific. Those who have this disorder have to eat every hour in order to stay healthy and it’s not as simple as grabbing a snack like many of us do when we feel ourselves getting lethargic and sluggish. According to the article, this genetic disorder means that the body of whoever has this disorder is unable to break down certain fatty acids into energy.” They must eat all the time, because of they don’t the article states that the body would start breaking down key muscles in its search for more and more energy. “If we had breakfast and skipped lunch [our body] would use up the energy from breakfast … [to] break down stored fats for energy,” Torti explained. “Owen’s body cannot do that. It breaks down his muscles and can cause problems with kidneys or liver or heart.”

Even after reading this article and looking into the disorder itself, I have a ton questions. What makes Owen’s body and others who have that disorder use up energy so fast? What happens to the fatty acids that cannot be broken down into energy? Is there a cure or anyway to outgrow this? Why is this starting from infancy and can it happen to an adolescent or adult? According to the National Institute of Health, 1 infant in every 62,000 births is born with LCHAD. LCHAD also affects the way food is eaten by toddlers. “From feeding Owen so frequently, he has a lot of oral aversion to eating,” Torti explained to ABC News. “Solid foods is so hard for him right now.”  Another question I had was how does weight play into this since those with this disorder eat extremely often.

I wanted to learn more about this disorder so I decided to look it up on the National Library of Medicine website. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much information about treatment on the site. Instead, the article goes on to say that Owen as well as others will lead fairly normal lives once they figure out their restrictions and limitations, which means that this is something many will deal with for the rest of their lives. The article can be viewed here along with the information from the National Library of Medicine.