I won't bore you with a lot of studies,you can read my last thread on beta oxidation inhibitors,which
takes a strange path. What I believe is going on is sulfur in the diet,including inorganic sulfate in water.
In a nutshell I hope.
UC in many starts distally, butyrate the preferred fuel for colonocytes is mainly manufactured in the colon from starches and fibers/carbs that escape digestion in the small intestine. Fermentation in the colon of these carbs is proximaly and decreases distally,along with butyrate concentration. So by the time the stool gets to the rectum it is high depleted in (SCFA)short chain fatty acids. So in the distal colon and rectum the cells are depleted in energy.
No big deal.
As the food progresses down the colon the carb fermentaion ends,and the bacteria start to eat protein and sulfur compounds,ammonia,hydrogen sulfide and mercapto compounds start to form and increase as the stool
progresses. These compounds all inhibit beta oxidation and can block the CoA path, beta oxidation is how the coloncytes use the butyrate for energy.
So by the time what little butyrate gets to the distal colon and rectum,the
colonocytes can't use it for energy.
I have also just found where methonine restriction increases tight junctions in the colon.
So with the overload of protein,and sulfur compounds,sulfates,sulfites,sulfated polysaccharides (carrageenan),brominated compounds in the diet some of us get UC. The
high sulfur diet also leads to more sulfate reducing bacteria in the colon,excess fat also seems to increase taurine conjugated bile,which these sulfate reducers eat. Once they build up they can then of course attack and dissolve your sulfomucin mucus,then get past the mucus to the colon mucosa,then the immune sys starts to attack
resulting in inflammation. As to why the immune sys does not stop attacking is perhaps another story.
Many of these compounds are also direct toxins to colon cells,such as hydrogen sulfide.
It would seem that a low sulfur diet,which has worked in small trials is the way to go. Carnitine suplements
may be a possible work around,carnitine involved in the transport of butyrate into cells.
In addition have to get off of most processed foods with all the sulfate,carrageenan and iron added.
I would also not drink water in which the sulfate has not been removed.
Some may recall the terrible sulfur gases prior to getting UC,or while you have it.
This is my best shot along with reduced linoleic acid fats,veggie oils.
My wife will go nuts when I start this diet.
Gee, I made it, not one citation.
Old Mike
PS:Sure antibiotics can trigger UC by killing off good bacteria,also gut infections.
Post Edited (Old Mike) : 8/26/2012 6:08:50 PM (GMT-6)