Potatoes and reduced number of stools

I just searched and there are a number of posts about the negative effects of potatoes but my experience has been positive.

Last summer at the end of my garden season, I harvested my potatoes and started eating a small potato most mornings where I would wash it, grate it, and make hash browns with a fair amount of butter involved as well. At that time I was having between 3 and 4 bowel movements a day. Over the course of the next three months my bowel movements decreased down to 1 per day and have remained at the level even as of today. I looked back through my records and I couldn't find anything else that I had changed and surprisingly I did not have my usual fall flare and I haven't had my usual spring flare either.

While doing some other research recently I stumbled upon the research that resistant starch (/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistant_starch) produces butyrate when processed by the digestive system and this may explain why I am now only having one stool a day. Given that I have my hash browns swimming in butter may also account for my success since butter is a good source for getting butyrate as well. I have also responded positively to psyllium seed powder in the past as well which also is a good source for increasing butyrate levels in the digestive system.

Fecal Butyrate Levels Vary Widely among Individuals but Are Usually Increased by a Diet High in Resistant Starch jn.nutrition.org/content/141/5/883.abstract

Pubmed (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=butyrate ulcerative colitis) has numerous references to butyrate and ulcerative colitis.

I do well with any potato that's not swimming in butter or any other heavy amount of fat or oil. If hash browns swimming in butter agree with you 1st thing in the morning, I think you are atypical of UC sufferers. But enjoy what you can ... foods do tend to affect us differently, and we usually find out thru trial/error which ones work for us individually and which are best avoided. / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

I also do well with starchy foods. It's what my first GI told me could help, and boy was I happy. Because A., I LOVE potatoes, and B. He was right.

I'm with Babeinthewoods and Oldhat. Potatoes have helped me greatly. I don't have much problems with them at all.

But I have noticed if I eat them continuously they'll slow down my movements by every other day or so.

Thought I might chime in... I think I may also have found that potatoes firm up my stool. For the first half of this year I was eating a box of roasted potatoes every night as a mid night snack. Aside from occassional soft stools now and then, my stools were usually firm and I was going around 2 - 3 times a day (my usual even pre-UC).

about a month ago I stopped because I remembered it was forbidden under the SCD diet. For the last few weeks my stools have come out even softer than usual. I thought it was a new probiotic I was taking...

If tap is still around, do your hash browns have chopped onions as well, like all hash browns do?   I hope the answer is yes...

 

I do extremely well on Potatoes. I switch to a mostly potato diet when I feel my worst.

mudua said...
Understanding the link between inflammatory bowel disease and potatoes...

According to the referenced research, people from countries that have the highest consumption of fried potatoes (e.g. french fries) have the highest incidence of IBD. Maybe the researchers should have reviewed the oils being used since most are pro-inflammatory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-6_fatty_acid said...
A high proportion of n−6 to n−3 fat in the diet shifts the physiological state in the tissues toward the pathogenesis of many diseases: prothrombotic, proinflammatory and proconstrictive.[8]

I have eliminated vegetable oils from my diet. They tend to be the ones highest in omega-6 fatty acids.

I love potatoes! I love that they keep weight on too. I added them and now I have more solid bm for sure. I tried baked red potato with a little honey it was delectable. I think the oils really do make it harsh on you.

its so trippy, sweet potatoes upset me but not regular potatoes. I wonder if the starch make up is different or something lol

Before SCD, I did will on white potatos too. I have some type of naturopathic book I got from a health store and the author says potatos are one of the few medicinal foods for IBD since it has reduces ulcer activity or something.

It also says that UC is caused by cryolomegalovirus, which is probably true for people with CMV, but like virtually no one has CMV.