Newsday Article

[Stuffette]

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hscro025114215mar02,0,47011.story?coll=ny-health-print

They talk about how the disease is environmental. No kidding. That is why I hear about so many cases around my area.

 

[mikeyarmo]

What I think the biggest challenge is though is that it is one think to say the disease is caused by enviornmental elements, but it is quite another to determine what exactly those things are. Another thing that I am unsure about is if lifestyle, as in stress levels or diet are considered when people say enviornment or if it just meets coming in contact with something (like a bacteria or virus).

 

[Stuffette]

environmental?

I think the article is interesting because it talks about how they are closer to finding the combination of the factors that contribute to Crohn's. They think it is a combination of genes, environment and lifestyle. I buy into the combination thing. When I tell people I have Crohn's I usually hear that they know someone else who has it. I have even met people personally with Crohn's. It could also be that I live in a highly populated area so the odds are greater but I still think environment plays a big role.

I always feel better when I spend time outdoors or go hiking. That isn't easy to do around the NYC area. Too much concrete and traffic.

I also had family members with Crohn's so that confirms my genetic theory as well. My great aunt had Crohn's and died from complications years ago. She died before I was even born.

I am not a doctor so these are all just guesses but it is interesting to talk about since nobody really knows the real reason we have Crohn's.

 

[Brando]

I agree with the combination theory. One thing I've noticed that has weight in this argument is lactose intolerance. It is well documented that certain races of people and even certain families have general lactose intolerance due to genetics. I'm a firm believer in it being one of the main reasons people develop crohn's in the first place because most people don't know how much of their food contains it even if they aren't eating dairy. Tons of other foods contain lactose that aren't necessarily dairy products.

Also makes you wonder, if lactose intolerance was actually the culprit how many lawsuits would there be especially with how hard the government pushes dairy and carbs on the food guide pyramid and how hardwired america is to having dairy in their diets from tons of "Milk, does a body good" commercials. Wouldn't you be reluctant to disclose that information to the general public too? Just food for thought..

 

[Ilysha]

That is interesting. I grew up in Tucson, but live in LA, and I often wonder if I stayed in Tucson if my symptoms would be as severe. Also, I lived in Lake Tahoe for a year and felt much better during that time. A pharmacist once told me about a study they did in Israel that really indicates that it's environmental. When Israel was first being resettled and was mainly agricultural and folks lived on Kibbutzes, there were no reported cases of Crohn's/Colitis type symptoms at all. Jump to the last 20-30 years when Israel has become very Westernized and not as agricultural, and there are many cases. Much like Inida, the hypothesis this pharmacist gave was that when we all lived in more agriculturally based socieites and everything was not germ free, our bodies were constantly fighting foreign invaders. Now that we live in such an "antibacterial" santisized society our immune systems have begun attacking themselves. So, you put a genetic predisposition for the disease together with an overly-sanitized world and you get lots of folks with Crohn's and UC. That's obviously a very synthisized version of his theory, but it made a lot of sense to me.

 

[DanSJVDavis]

I've never been particularly intolerant to lactose, but have Crohn's. So I guess for me it doesn't really have much to do with that part of the equation.

 

[Maggie-Muffin]

hello, either have I Dan.So I don't know where that leaves us
~~~HUGS~~
anda: