Nutritional Support for Crohns Disease.
Crohn’s Disease
Inflammatory Bowel Disease has two main categories which are Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. There are about 100 cases of Crohn’s Disease in the US per 100,000 persons. Symptoms include cramps in the lower abdomen, mild abdominal tenderness, hemorrhoids, weight loss, and fever as well as other symptoms.
Intestinal permeability is a marker of Crohn’s Disease. Mucosal and epithelial cells are damaged which allow substances such as undigested food particles that should not go into the gut wall to penetrate the tissue walls. This causes tissue insult and more aggravation. Though it can occur at any age, it most often appears at the age of 15- 35 and is more often in females than males.
Proper Nutritional Support for Crohn’s Disease
Conventional medicine manages these problems with steroids and immunosuppressive drugs which only slows progression of the disease. Of course the side effects of these drugs are numerous. Thankfully, things are changing and are being looked at differently.
When we look at Crohn’s it is all about the diet. A study in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics showed that those with Crohn’s disease had inadequate intake of many nutrients.
100%of Crohn’s patients were deficient in Fiber
95 percent were deficient in Vitamin E
90 percent were deficient in calcium
Also vitamins A, C and magnesium were deficient in a high percentage.
Vitamin D deficiency were noted in all cases that showed inflammation on the lining of the colon.
Nutritional Support for Crohn’s Disease
When I give nutritional support for this I use whole food supplements only. As I state all of the time: nutrients must come from food sources. It is inadvisable to just get these supplements over the counter and to start taking them. Those are not the proper supplements that will give the body the ability to heal.
Initially, the supplements I prescribe are taken without food in order to soothe and support the lining of the intestines as well as fix any leaky gut issues. As the patient starts to respond we then start adding food supplements to restore the nutrients that are missing.
David Suskind M.D. is the champion in the research of Inflammatory Bowel Disease which Crohn’s Disease is just one of. His clinical observations showed the relationship with any Inflammatory Bowel Disease and diet. Unfortunately, we do not get the nutrients throughout diet because of the quality of the food we eat. Again, this is why whole food supplementation is very important. They replace the nutrients that we need. Dr. Suskind’ study was published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. The conclusion was that Functional Medicine and Nutritional Therapy soar above the current medical solutions.
We need more researchers like Dr. Suskind that will look at the nutritional components. Nutritional support is helpful in most instances. Again, I am not advising anyone to get the nutrients listed and treat themselves. One needs evaluation by a proper professional and take food supplements to get the nutrients to the body and let the body start the course of healing. As the body responds, one should then consult the prescribing Doctor to reduce or get off the medication that they are on for the problem.
