Diet approach to IBD advocated

www.odt.co.nz/campus/university-otago/188217/diet-approach-ibd-advocated

High sugar, low fibre food made symptoms worse; food that was unprocessed, high fibre, and low fat helped.

Other environmental factors included antibiotic use, air pollution, one-off infections, obesity, smoking, vitamin deficiency, although more research was needed on most of these.

Genetics was a factor, but many more people carried genetic markers of IBD than the number with the diseases, suggesting definite environmental triggers.

baconeggsyum said...


High sugar, low fibre food made symptoms worse; food that was unprocessed, high fibre, and low fat helped.

Isn't this common sense? Haven't we been told this since our childhood? Thanks to the 'development' and introduction of processed food in out diet system that we will start seeing more and more disorders that have triggers in environment or food than actual parasites. If you notice carefully, IBD is more prevalent in developed countries than the developing or poor countries.

Genetic factors are not proven and I have heard first hand from someone who has been working on linking IBD to genetics for about 10 years now, that most likely no such link exists. Genetic factors only make you predisposed to the condition and it will take a while before we find them. There are just too many triggers that we are talking about here.

I'm still not sure I buy the diet triggers for UC (at least for me). Prior to my weight loss surgery I ate a pretty lousy diet, high in carbs, more junk food than I want to admit (due to lots of work travel), sugars, etc. I had been in remission for the better part of a year or two with just balsalazide and the Rowasa enemas PRN.

kim123 said...
Meds mask the symptoms, with or without diet changes. However, with diet changes, I never needed the meds anymore.

Amen to that! I wish more people realized that.

Alinus said...

What got me out of my first hospitalization was 'food you could only get 500 years ago'.

- Laird Hamilton Big Wave Rider.

Well said.

Doctors wont implement it on patients though... IMO It's not like someone will see a GI about crapting blood and say "I didn't come here for pharmecuticals for this mystery condition"... Those who want to truly heal will figure out some diet adjustments to work. Those who says it's genetics are kiddin themselves, they weren't born with colitis.

Post Edited (ColitisMastery) : 11/26/2011 5:54:09 PM (GMT-7)

meds don't mask symptoms of UC....unless one is taking something like imodium, laxatives or pain relievers.

q

For some diet means little with UC. My sister and I have it passed genetically from my mother's side. Our mother made everything from scratch growing up: low fat, high fiber, very fresh fruits and vegetables, low sugar and salt, etc.
I was ill as a child so took a lot of antibiotics while my sister was very healthy. She never drank alcohol or smoked; I tried pot as a teen and drank socially in college. We both continue to eat healthy and don’t drink alcohol. We are both fairly fit overall regarding exercise. Every time I want to blame it on antibiotics, diet or me being ill as a child I think of her.
She has constipation with UC while I have diarrhea. We also both have seizures.
I got UC first and when she got it she was determined not to go on steriods. She lived a miserable life until she caved in after years of alternatives not working. She used mesalamine enemas but it made her sick. She tried other anti-inflammatories for a long time before she had to use prednisone. She still has avoided Remicade and Imuran but bleeds almost daily she says.
I told her about FT wanting her to be the guinea pig but she said me first.