Low carb diet now extends benefits to IBD
Wednesday, 24 October 2007, 9:57 am
Press Release: AGW

Media release Embargoed until Wednesday 24 October 2007

Low carb diet now extends benefits to IBD

A special low-carbohydrate diet has been found to relieve the distressing symptoms that afflict people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) – an umbrella term that covers Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

The Australian study, from Box Hill Hospital Victoria, found the diet, which involves cutting back on foods including wheat, onions, milk, ice-cream, apples, honey, stone fruits and legumes, to be effective in more than 50 per cent of patients with IBD who have co-existing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

IBS causes symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea and bloating, but the bowel looks normal. IBD causes similar symptoms but the bowel is inflamed

Presenting his findings at the Australian Gastroenterology Week conference, lead researcher Dr Richard Gearry, Senior Lecturer in Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch said the study involved 100 patients for a period of at least three months.

“Patients were given an individualised dietary assessment to determine which foods, known as FODMAPs (Fermentable, Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides And Polyols) triggered their abdominal symptoms,” he added.

FODMAP foods fall into the categories of fructose (e.g. apples), lactose (dairy products), polyols (stone fruit), fructans (e.g. wheat) and galactans (eg legumes).

The study showed that those patients who adhered to a diet which restricted the trigger foods were more likely to get relief from symptoms, particularly abdominal pain, diarrhoea, bloating and wind.

“Most patients found that the diet was easy to implement and that the taste was acceptable which is very important if people are to follow this diet,” said Dr Gearry.

Up to 50 per cent of patients with Crohn’s disease and 30 per cent of ulcerative colitis patients have IBS as well.

“We don’t want to prescribe drugs or perform surgery on patients who do not have inflammation as the cause of their symptoms,” said Dr Gearry. “Therefore, if a patient with IBD has symptoms suggestive of IBS, or there is no evidence of inflammation, then using this dietary approach is appropriate.”

It is currently estimated that about 61,000 Australians are currently living with IBD making it more common than epilepsy and comparable in prevalence to type 1 diabetes and schizophrenia.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE0710/S00101.htm

About frickin time they clued in. I'd extend this to include all gluten grains and probably other grains as well.

IBS - It's B*ll Sh*t ( as a diagnosis). Means nothing. Actually, it means "We have no idea why you're constipated/having the runs/in pain all the time, but you are, so you must have an irritated bowel." Really? Gosh!

What am I missing??



What about meat and vegetables?? Somehow these are left out?? If they're not left out but are always considered 'ok' to eat then why would IBS be a question in the first place, aside from, 'eat veggies and meat, you're sensitive to other stuff.' ?

The recommended diet for IBS which I now seem to have is high-carbohydrate with lots of soluble fiber eschewing fats, meat, eggs, dairy and the like. There is even a book on it written by an IBS sufferer who also runs a support forum. Unfortunately I think they're way off base.

http://www.helpforibs.com/messagebo...sb=5&o=&fpart=1

I wonder if at some point in time, many of them were reacting to Arachidonic acid and it gave the erroneous impression that meat was a problem, or something.

Thanks for posting that. It's good to see a diet study on this, finally. They emphasise the IBS component but I think LCing benefits both IBS and IBD. I have both- that's why I got into low-carbing, even though I'm skinny. Perhaps some IBSers benefit from the fiber emphasis that is normally given to IBSers, but, as was pointed out- IBS is a 'BS' diagnosis ('if we can't figure out what it is , we'll call it IBS') anyway; IBS (no inflammation), like IBD (inflammation), clearly involves gut dysbiosis (bacterial imbalances vs a healthy gut, though whether it is the cause, effect, or a little of both isn't clear); and IBD most definitely involves some degree of auto-immunity- and auto-immunity is definitely made worse by refined carbs.

I know some other IBDers who have been able to snap out of flares by going ultra-low (less than 10 grams a day) carb, ketonic-level. I have tried this and it hasn't worked for me, and on top of that my gut seems to need the fiber from low-carb veggies to avoid constipation - but I certainly do much, much better on low-carb.

Finally!!

From my very first post on this forum -



Mike_d, the link you posted is the basis of the diet I was referring to in this post!

My IBS is so much better now that I'm lowcarbing. I have happy bowels!