Crohn's Disease Health Topic

Learn More About Crohn's Disease

1. Paratuberculosis and Crohn's Disease

   Crohn's sufferers experience profuse urgent diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and fevers. The immune system starts attacking the lining of the gut, which becomes swollen and inflamed. This inflammation narrows the digestive tract and can result in excruciating pain during digestion as well as constant uncontrollable bowel movements. Added discomforts associated with Crohn's disease include severe joint pains, weight loss and lack of energy. The intestines characteristically become so deeply ulcerated that they take on a "cobblestone" appearance. A cattle disease, which became known as Johne's disease, has symptom's similar to Crohn's Disease. It is known to be caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium paratuberculosis.

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2. Bacteria Linked to Bowel Disorder

   Scientists have identified a type of bacteria they believe may cause Crohn's disease. One study found Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (MAP) bacteria in 92% of patients with the disease. This has led the scientists to suggest that this bacteria may play a key role in causing the disease.

3. Ulcer Therapy May Also Treat Crohn's Disease

   Crohn's patients in Mediterranean countries appear to have an inordinately high incidence of gastrointestinal infection with the Helicobacter pylori bacterium. In recent years, H. pylori has been identified by researchers as the cause of perhaps the majority of gastrointestinal ulcers. Regimens aiming at eradicating H. pylori in infected patients with Crohn's disease may also achieve remission of Crohn's disease.

4. Coconut Oil for Digestive Disorders

   Reports suggest that coconut may offer relief from symptoms and prevent digestive distress. The anti-inflammatory and healing effects of coconut oil apparently play a role in soothing inflammation and healing injury in the digestive tract which are characteristic of Crohn's disease. Its antimicrobial properties also affects intestinal health by killing troublesome microorganisms that may cause chronic inflammation. The medium chain fatty acids in coconut oil are digested differently than other fats. Medium chain fatty acids are broken down almost immediately by enzymes in the saliva and gastric juices so that pancreatic fat-digesting enzymes are not even essential. Therefore, there is less strain on the pancreas and digestive system. This has important implications for patients who suffer from digestive and metabolic problems.

5. The 411 on Crohn’s Nutritional Deficiencies

   Since Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory disease most often affecting the small intestines, people who have this disease have difficulty digesting and absorbing important nutrients. Crohn’s patients are often lacking in vitamins A, D, K, and B-12. Essential omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and help the lining of the colon to heal itself.

6. Crohn's Self-Care Measures

   Some dietary suggestions for those with colitis, crohn's and irritable bowel syndrome.

7. The Probiotic Solution for Colitis

   Bacterial balance can be the most significant factor influencing gut ecology and health.

8. Spirulina & Crohn's Disease

   Because spirulina is highly nutritious, consuming it may improve your nutritional status and reduce weight loss and fatigue. In addition, spirulina is a potent antioxidant that also boosts the immune system and helps suppress inflammation.

9. Sugar free diet: a new perspective in the treatment of Crohn disease?

   Since several studies have shown that patients with Crohn's disease have an increased consumption of refined carbohydrates, the influence of a diet excluding refined sugar on the course of the disease was examined. The first group was treated with a low carbohydrate diet (refined sugar excluded), the second group received a high carbohydrate diet (refined sugar-rich). In patients with higher activities of the disease (activity index 100-200 points), the diet which restricted refined sugar was superior to the sugar-rich diet; in 4 out of 5 patients the disease activity decreased and remained so throughout the study-period. In contrast to this 4 patients treated with the sugar-rich diet had to be taken off the treatment because of increasing activities of the disease.

   SCIENTIFIC STUDY

10. Bromelain as a Supplement for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

    Bromelain is a proteolytic enzyme that is extracted from the stem and juice of pineapple. Bromelain is an anti-inflammatory and is being studied for use as a supplement for inflammatory bowel disease.

11. Leaky Gut Syndrome

    Oral supplementation with friendly bacteria and digestive enzymes help restore intestinal permeability. Substances known as probiotics supply these friendly bacteria. Probiotics include tablets containing Lactobacillus acidophilus, Propionibacterium freudenreichii, shermanii, and Bifidobacterium bifidum.

12. An Exploratory Clinical Pilot Study Utilizing Acemannan in Inflamatory Bowel Disease

    This document contains 51 examples on research and studies of acemannan for wide range of diseases including Crohn's disease (Example 12). Nine IBD patients were admitted and were treated daily with 200 mg acemannan in capsules. Acemannan provided dramatic clinical improvement in the acute inflammatory phase of the disease. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a collective term for Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and other conditions of the gastrointestinal tract. Crohn's occurs mainly in the ileum and colon, whereas ulcerative colitis is limited to the colon. At least three credible hypotheses have been set forth to explain the etiology of IBD. One holds that an unknown infectious agent, such as a slowly growing bacterium or virus, triggers the immune system and sets up a chronic inflammatory response. The second holds that this same sequence of events is caused by a toxic substance, such as food-borne or environmental contaminants. The third hypothesis suggests that the inflammatory response is an autoimmune condition.

    SCIENTIFIC STUDY

13. Man Finds Extreme Healing Eating Parasitic Worms (Ulcerative Colitis)

    The patient had gone on the internet and found an article in a medical journal by Dr. Joel Weinstock, chief of gastroenterology at Tufts University Medical School, which showed some ulcerative colitis patients found relief after ingesting the trichuris suis worm, a parasite that lives in the intestines of pigs. Loke and his colleagues took a close look at the patient's immune system after he ingested the worm eggs. After ingestion, he had an abundance of cells that produce a protein called interleukin-22, which is important in healing the mucosal lining of the intestines. Worms are damaging the patient's gut, researchers say, triggering a healing effect in areas affected by ulcerative colitis.

14. Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN) Therapy Improves Active Crohn's Disease

    Endogenous opioids and opioid antagonists have been shown to play a role in healing and repair of tissues. the safety and efficacy of low-dose naltrexone (LDN), an opioid antagonist, were tested in patients with active Crohn's disease. Eighty-nine percent of patients exhibited a response to therapy and 67% achieved a remission. Improvement was recorded in both quality of life surveys with LDN compared with baseline.

    SCIENTIFIC STUDY

15. Therapy with the Opioid Antagonist Naltrexone (LDN) Promotes Mucosal Healing in Active Crohn's Disease

    Naltrexone improves clinical and inflammatory activity of subjects with moderate to severe Crohn's disease compared to placebo-treated controls. Strategies to alter the endogenous opioid system provide promise for the treatment of Crohn's disease.

    SCIENTIFIC STUDY

16. Study Links Common Food Additives to Crohn's Disease, Colitis

    The intestinal tract is inhabited by a large and diverse community of microbes collectively referred to as the gut microbiota. While the gut microbiota provides important benefits to its host, especially in metabolism and immune development, disturbance of the microbiota-host relationship is associated with numerous chronic inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease and the group of obesity-associated diseases collectively referred to as metabolic syndrome. A primary means by which the intestine is protected from its microbiota is via multi-layered mucus structures that cover the intestinal surface, thereby allowing the vast majority of gut bacteria to be kept at a safe distance from epithelial cells that line the intestine. Thus, agents that disrupt mucus-bacterial interactions might have the potential to promote diseases associated with gut inflammation."

Tags: crohn's disease and colitis, crohn's disease and irritable bowel syndrome, crohn's and paratuberculosis, crohn's and Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (MAP) bacteria, crohn's and h. pylori, crohn's and Johne's disease, crohn's and nutritional deficiencies, crohn'ts and probiotics, crohn's and omega 3, crohn's and acidophilus, crohn's and spirulina, crohn's and bromelain, crohn's and enzymes, crohn's and coconut oil, crohn's and acemannan, crohn's and aloe vera, crohn's and low dose naltrexone, crohn's and LDN

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