# CLA for Crohn's and Colitis



## ctrl z (Apr 13, 2012)

I found this recent article on ScienceDaily about a research team in Virginia that found anti-inflammatory properties in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).

It is a naturally occuring acid found in meat and dairy products. A quick google search showed that you can buy these in supplement form. 

Because this is new, I have not seen anything from any Crohn's patients that have tried this so far and a search of the forums didn't turn up anything either.



> researchers found that Crohn's patients who took supplementary CLA showed noticeable improvement. "In our recent open label study of CLA as a supplement in study subjects with mild to moderate CD there was a marked improvement in disease activity and quality of life in 50% of the subjects. CLA was well tolerated by all of the study subjects. These findings are very encouraging and will need to be verified in a randomized controlled trial," said Professor Kim L. Isaacs, a Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


Hopefully someone from their study will show up and give us some first-hand information.

Here is a link to the full article.



> Novel Therapy Discovered for Crohn's Disease
> 
> ScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2012) — The Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) research team at Virginia Tech has discovered important new information on the efficacy of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in treating Crohn's disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). CLA is a naturally occurring acid found in meat and dairy products known for its anti-cancer and immune modulatory properties.
> 
> ...


If you get bored, you should do a search for "Crohn's Disease" in the search form on the ScienceDaily web site. There are a lot of great articles on new findings related to Crohn's and Colitis.


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## Miss Underestimated (Apr 14, 2012)

Very interesting.


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## Spooky1 (Apr 14, 2012)

can u believe i'm getting excited about CLA.  Mind, after this many years and no remission i get excited about anything new for crohns.


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## Miss Underestimated (Apr 14, 2012)

Yes, I can. Seeing this info come from these institutions is exciting. Then you know it's not just someone wishing themselves well, there are some real results, worth serious study. I think I had seen the CLA info before, but not that it was being studied at UNC and Wake.


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## CrohnsGuy (Apr 14, 2012)

*Grass-Fed and Pastured*

CLA is found in nature by consuming grass-fed animals. Mother Nature still knows best: http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Blog...t-Body-Composition-And-Cancer-Prevention.aspx


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## ctrl z (Jun 12, 2012)

Found the study for this on pubmed.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22521469

I wish someone from the trial was on this site. 

I'm not so sure if it is just any old CLA they are using. I think there are certain formulations for it.

If anyone is going to try it, you should read up on it first. I'm not positive but I believe it is a bit risky to take if you are obese.


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## kiny (Jun 12, 2012)

In that last study they say it's a TNF-Alpha inhibitor. It's stupid that there are thousands of natural TNF-Alpha inhibitors but no one is willing to fund them. Boswellia is a powerful TNF-Alpha inhibitor (nowhere near something like infliximab, but amongst herbs it's one of the most powerful), and there are only like 2 studies (both show it works well for some people), and a gazillion studies about infliximab, but they both probably help because they're simply blocking inflammatory TNF-Alpha cytokine.


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## ctrl z (Jul 1, 2012)

I've obtained the full paper for this study. You can view it here: http://goo.gl/pv77O

I tried to upload it directly to the forum but the file is too big.


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## kiny (Jul 1, 2012)

I uploaded it in the form of pictures, I hope it's not too big for people.


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## ctrl z (Jul 2, 2012)

By the way, I don't think it is mentioned in the paper but they used Tonalin CLA.


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## steve55 (Jul 2, 2012)

How do you know they use Tonalin? This seems to be the best choice anyways since its well studied, just curious.


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## ctrl z (Jul 2, 2012)

I emailed Dr. Josep Bassaganya-Riera and asked him.


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## mf15 (Jul 3, 2012)

Just be carefull if you try the CLA supplements there are a few cases of liver toxicity,and it can happen fast.
I have the supplement but not sure I want to try it.
Old Mike


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## kiny (Jul 3, 2012)

mf15 said:


> Just be carefull if you try the CLA supplements there are a few cases of liver toxicity,and it can happen fast.
> I have the supplement but not sure I want to try it.
> Old Mike


Here is a European study regarding the safety of CLA.

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/doc/1601.pdf


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## mf15 (Jul 3, 2012)

I have read the study,but never the less there are a few cases of liver toxicity.
Since I cannot post links yet, just search google for cla liver toxicity.
Thats all I would need liver toxicity on top of 32 years of UC.
Old Mike


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## Mark in Seattle (Jul 4, 2012)

I tried the natural way of buying grass-fed milk and Kerrygold cheese (grass-fed cheese from Ireland).  The cheese made my gut hurt bad every time, even eating tiny amounts.  This, in contrast to my high reliance on my local pizza purveyor to supply me with lots of pizza which is the most benign food for my gut, makes me wonder what sort of microbes are coming from Ireland....?  I'm just speculating about the microbes of course but maybe my gut doesn't like microbes it's not familiar with.  I'm skeptical that it's really possible to consume a therapeutic amount of cla from the diet to combat IBD successfully.  And from what I've read, CLA pills can have adverse affect on insulin-resistance, etc.


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## ctrl z (Jul 5, 2012)

I've decided against trying the pills but I have started cooking with grass fed beef tallow in moderation. I'm also not sure it's enough to be effective but I figure I'm getting more CLA that way than by consuming conventionally produced meats.

I sautee veggies with it and add it to my rice cooker.

Hopefully they can do a larger study on the use of CLA pills some day. The pilot study has some promising results.


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## ZM1019 (Jul 5, 2012)

Good to know, but it looks like they haven't gone far enough to see if it raises the risk of infection and cancer.


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## kiny (Jul 5, 2012)

The CLA from Tonalin is apparently gathered from safflower, from the flower's seeds, instead of from animal fats, both have CLA, but per unit weight, it's more found in animal fat. For what it's worth.


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