Helpful Diet for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, by Dr. Zina Kroner

View PDF | Print View
by: Guest Total views: 181 Word Count: 1325   

(Sep 15, 2010 - 03:50 PM) : atients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) suffer from diarrhea and abdominal pain; this is often accompanied by difficulty in absorbing nutrients which results in weight loss. With ulcerative colitis, the large bowel (colon) is involved; Crohn's disease can affect everything from the mouth to the anus, although usually small and/or large bowel disease usually predominates. Medical treatment of IBD is aimed at reducing the intestinal inflammation.

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) suffer from diarrhea and abdominal pain; this is often accompanied by difficulty in absorbing nutrients which results in weight loss. With ulcerative colitis, the large bowel (colon) is involved; Crohn's disease can affect everything from the mouth to the anus, although usually small and/or large bowel disease usually predominates. Medical treatment of IBD is aimed at reducing the intestinal inflammation.

Medications including sulfasalazine and related drugs and corticosteroids, taken orally or topically may be able to cause improvement in many patients. Stronger medication are frequently needed, with more side effects, including azathioprine, 6-mercaptopurine, methotrexate, and injectable anti-tumor necrosis antibody preparations.

Surgery may be needed if medical treatment fails. In the case of ulcerative colitis, surgical procedures can be as drastic as removal of the entire colon with a permanent stoma (ostomy). Patients with Crohn's disease may require surgery after surgery removing affected parts of the bowel.

For many patients, medical interventions are not enough, and surgery may undesirable. There is another approach to treating IBD on a more basic level. This involves a significant change in diet for most people, to what is called the 'Specific Carbohydrate Diet.' This diet can be undertaken along with any medical treatment.

This diet is available to anyone wanting to try it because of the late Elaine Gottschall (d. 2005). Gottschall was both a mother and a scientist who was able to find a way to help her own child, and decided to share her knowledge. In 1958, her eight-year-old daughter was suffering from ulcerative colitis that failed to respond to medical treatment. Looking for an alternative to surgery, Gottschall took her daughter to Dr. Sidney Haas, a 92-year-old physician who had published a textbook outlining his nutritional approach to healing the intestines.

Dr. Haas quickly started the young girl on his specific carbohydrate diet. After a few months on the diet, her intestinal symptoms started to improve and she began to gain weight. After two years, she was well and free of symptoms of the disease. However, Dr. Haas had died in the interim and could no longer provide guidance.

Gottschall decided to learn more about science behind the diet. She studied biology, cellular biology and nutritional biochemistry, earning a master's degree and doing research on carbohydrate metabolism in the intestine. She published the Specific Carbohydrate Diet in a book first entitled Food and the Gut Reaction. It is now in its 13th printing, and called Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Healing Through Diet. Over a million copies have been sold, and the book has been translated into seven other languages.

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet is based on the way carbohydrates are digested in the intestine, and what may be going wrong with the digestion in people with IBS and other intestinal disorders. Single sugars, including glucose, fructose and galactose can be transported from the intestine into the bloodstream without requiring digestion, in this case, splitting of molecules by enzymes. The cells of the small intestine must work harder to digest carbohydrates, as well as two-sugar molecules.

Carbohydrates are broken down into disaccharides by salivary enzymes and pancreatic enzymes as they pass through the digestive tract. Disaccharides, comprised of two sugars, must be split into their component parts by enzymes located in the outer membrane of the cells in the small intestine. The cell membranes have small finger-like projections called microvilli that line the intestinal walls. The enzymes are located in the microvilli. There are four key disaccharide/enzyme pairs.

Sucrose, or table sugar, must be metabolized into glucose and fructose. Sucrose is fruit derived (cane sugar, beet sugar). As fruits ripen, sucrose can be broken down into glucose and fructose, so that ripe fruits may have less sucrose.

Maltose is similarly metabolized into two glucose molecules by maltase.

A deficiency of any of these enzymes prevents the final digestion of disaccharides. They stay in the intestine where they can cause physical symptoms. For example, sugars can ferment and cause gas.

Many people are affected by a lack of lactase, leading to the inability to fully digest the lactose in milk. This is called 'lactose intolerance' which causes symptoms of gas, pain and diarrhea. The incidence of lactase deficiency varies between different ethnic groups, and is also more prevalent in older people than children. People with simple lactose intolerance can take a tablet containing lactase, or they can consume milk products which have lactase added. They can also usually tolerate milk products in which the lactose has been digested already. For example, in properly prepared yoghurt, the right kind of bacteria have already split and digested the lactose.

It has been postulated that in IBS, all of the disaccharidases are not functioning. Consequently, carbohydrate residues and disaccharides cannot be digested. These comprise so much of an average diet that the undigested material is a very significant amount. The symptoms of pain, gas and diarrhea are severe.

The undigested disaccharides can feed the bacteria living in the intestine, causing an overgrowth of bacteria. Many kinds of bacteria normally live in the large intestine, and to a lesser degree, in the terminal ileum that connects to the large intestine. These can multiply and migrate up into the small intestine where they do not belong.

Bacteria in the wrong place can cause damage to the lining of the small intestine, to the microvilli lining the small intestinal walls. This further reduces the amount of functional enzymes and perpetuates the cycle. Decreased digestion of carbohydrates and disaccharides allow bacteria to grow that damage the intestine and decrease the digestion of disaccharides even more. Additionally, the bacteria can release toxic byproducts that cause some of the symptoms of IBS.

Whatever begins the cycle of the intestinal damage, the decreased ability to digest carbohydrates and disaccharides leads to further damage, with more symptoms and even less digestive ability. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet interrupts the cycle.

The main principle of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet is that only so-called 'legal' carbohydrates are permitted. These are found in fruits, honey, properly-prepared yoghurt, and certain vegetables and nuts, and are to be used as follows:

Fruits: Not introduced during the first one to two weeks. Then ripe, peeled and cooked.
No raw fruits until diarrhea under control. First raw fruit should be ripe mashed banana. No canned fruits with added sugar.
Vegetables: No raw vegetables (such as salad greens and cucumbers) until diarrhea is under control. Only frozen or fresh vegetables are allowed, not canned.
Dairy products: No fluid milk. Specific cheeses are allowed. Homemade yoghurt is a large part of the diet. Dry curd cottage cheese is also important.

The following foods can also be eaten:

Fats: Well tolerated in association with meat, butter, and allowed cheese and yoghurt. Use of low-fat milk is not advised unless there is another reason.

Forbidden 'illegal' carbohydrates:

All cereal grains, including but not limited to corn, oats, wheat, rye, rice, millet, buckwheat, triticale or any other 'new' grains such as quinoa. No products made from these grains are allowed, which means no bread, pasta, cakes, or other baked goods. Ground nut flours replace grains for baking.

No table sugar is allowed as a sweetener or in candy. It is sucrose, a disaccharide. Honey is the allowed sweetener. It contains glucose and fructose separately.

Additional information:

Digestive System Salivary Glands and Saliva Biology
Anaerobic Digestion Biology and Benefits
Introduction: Biology of the Digestive System: Merck Manual Home
Biology Digestion for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes
Biology Introduction to Nutrition and Digestion CliffsNotes
Fat Digestion and Bile Biology in Motion
Following Digestion of a Meal Interactive Biology by Leslie
Biology Digestion v1.0 Application for Android Reference
http://www.mediasyndicate.com/...

Related "Digestion":

• PMI Nutrition, LLC Offers New Exclusive(R) Pet Food and Infinia(TM) Holistic ...
  GRAY SUMMIT, MO--(Marketwire - July 26, 2010) - ...
• Irregular Bowl Movements and the Benefits of the Bidet
  The bidet is can help with many known Health probl ...
• Natural remedies for digestion problems
  Digestion problems seem to be a common ailment o ...
• 2:1 Protein Bars: Low Carb, BCAAs, EFAs for Muscle Growth
  It's quite popular (and a bit cliche, to be hone ...
• Whatever the cause, funky foods can quickly make your ...
  Pain in the belly (abdomen) can come from condit ...

Comments

Add Comment