Strict diet of organic food prompts Crohn's disease remission

[Mazen]

http://www.gastrosource.com/news/?itemId=2248468

A team from Austria reports that patients assigned to a highly restricted diet of organic food showed improvement in their intestinal lesions not seen in patients assigned to a high-carbohydrate diet.

The findings, published in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, support the theory that matter ingested as part of the modern Western lifestyle causes intestinal Crohn's lesions to persist.

 

[Creepy Lurker]

The trial was too small to really mean anything. I hope they repeat it on a larger scale.

 

[Mazen]

Yeah, maybe the result is also because of the low carb diet combined with organic food ; It's more or less like what the Maker's diet suggests as well as others as below. It seems low carb diets are good for Crohn's but I wish they were not so hard to follow !!!!!!!

http://www.healingcrow.com/dietsmain/crohn/crohn.html

Although the current medical consensus is that diet is not related to CD, three modern practitioners have independently discovered this perception to be false.

Robert C. Atkins, M.D. states in his book, Dr. Atkins' Vita-Nutrient Solution, that he has a 85 percent success rate of treating CD patients with a sugar-restricted (low carbohydrate) diet and high doses of B-vitamins, including folic acid and pantethine.

Wolfgang Lutz, M.D., a medical clinician in Austria has a success rate of over 90 percent when treating his patients with a low carbohydrate diet for at least one year.

Elaine Gottschall, M.S. has had remarkable success at healing others suffering from Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis with a specific carbohydrate diet (SCD), even curing her own daughter.

John Yudkin, M.D. states in his book, Sweet and Dangerous, that he has successfully used a low carbohydrate diet to treat a variety of gastrointestinal ailments. In one study he acheived a 70 percent success rate.

 

[Racer X]

The Healingcrow website is an awesome link! I found it when I was first diagnosed but I forgot to save it in my bookmarks. Thanks for listing it Mazen!

I went to see marriage counselor with my wife, before I knew I was sick. The subject quickly went from our marriage to my poor health over the last ten years. Our Doctor realized that I was sick and started to push me to get checked out by an MD and to make changes to my diet ASAP. I recall feeling skeptical about going on to an organic diet. I said the same thing Creepy Lurker. At that time in my life I was living on junk food and it was hard to hear that my food choices were contributing to me Crohn's! So I initially rejected these ideas because I thought that they were too good to be true!

Then I thought, "what do I have to lose? Can trying and organic diet hurt me?"

 

[Mazen]

Hi Racer. Do you follow the SCD diet? or do you still eat grains and bread?

 

[Racer X]

I used the SCD food list below to help me find out what foods seem to cause my flares. My main trigger seems to be refined sugar in any form.

http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/legal/legal_illegal_a-c.htm

I am not currently on SCD since I can eat sprouted bread on a daily basis and I can enjoy pasta for supper twice a week.

I feel like the SCD diet is my safety net. My plan is to use strict SCD diet if my symptoms return.

What is your diet like? Do you know what foods bother you?

 

[Mazen]

Well I'm more or less on a low residue diet. I know that fiber doesn't suit me (raw vegetables, gasy vegetables, etc.....); also I try as much as possible to minimize refined sugar and junk food.

I read the SCD book. It's very interesting but it seems too difficult for me to apply.... Also I'm underweight and without eating carbs like rice, pasta, potatoes, bread I seem to lose more weight!!!

 

[Racer X]

I read the SCD book. It's very interesting but it seems too difficult for me to apply.... Also I'm underweight and without eating carbs like rice, pasta, potatoes, bread I seem to lose more weight!!!

I rejected the low residue diet my doctor gave me! I used the BRATs diet to gain control initially. But I never believed the answer was to eat soft gooey food for the rest for my life. Once my system had a chance to rest I started to experiment with foods one at a time. Now I have a solid list of foods that don't upset my system.

I understand your concerns. If I am not mistaken, I think that when those of use with IBD drop weight it is because our bowels are damaged and we are having trouble getting nutrition from our diet. In the book "breaking the vicious cycle" Elaine used the diet to settle her daughters system down. And I think her daughter gained weight on the SCD diet.

I based my food choices on the SCD food list and I added bread and pasta one at a time to see what I could handle. I stopped losing weight and my diarrhea went away . If my diarrhea returns and I start to lose weight again I plan on going on a strict SCD diet. The science behind it makes a lot of sense to me!

Are your symptoms under control? Are you still losing weight?

 

[BWS1982]

Lost nutrients happens more prevelently in small bowel Crohns; and some of us lose great amounts of weight also because we are so horrible that we don't feel like eating, and the thought of food going in disgusts us because we know how it comes out and how agonizing that gets. Others of us have different builds and activity levels, and when those levels and builds are greatly interrupted, the body readjusts and the weight plumets. Crohns and the patients can vary greatly.

 

[Mazen]

Well my symptoms are under control now after a bad flare a month ago, where I had partial obstruction. I'm now back on Prednisone and weaning of it..... I hope things stay fine. My main symptoms are pain and obstructions. i don't have diarrhea; in fact i suffer sometimes from constipation...

In fact on Prednsione I seem to gain some weight as I'm hungry most of the time... I hope my appetite stays after I stop it

 

[james]

has anyone tried the diet from jordan ruban's book "restoring your digestive health" i think the same as the makers diet if you read that?I read the book and am gonna give it a try but it is so restrictive and basically a whole lifestyle change, i want to know if it actually works.

 

[Mazen]

Well the diet by Jordan Rubin is basically the SCD diet, and primitive lifestyle ideas combined together. He didn't discover anything. What I don't like about him is that he's trying to sell you all his supplements from his own company, and that smells fishy..... If I would try a diet for Crohn's I would first start with SCD since it makes some scientific sense and it's author seems to have genuine concern for IBD patients....

 

[james]

so has anyone tried the specific carbohydrate diet with any success? or anything other than conventional medicine that actually works?

 

[Isla]

Well I am not sure what you mean by "works" keeps someone in remission, reduces symptoms, prevents flares? The main problem I have with natural remedies or special diets is the only way of knowing it's the diet / natural remedy is if you are on no medication. I don't think there are many Crohns patients willing to go off medications long enough to know that the remedies are working. Not only that, most diets or natural remedies take a very long to start taking effect - so that is medication free for long periods of times. I don't think it is worth it unless no drug available works (i.e. has been tried for an individual) but usually at that point they require surgery anyway.

 

[dad_01]

The trial was too small to really mean anything. I hope they repeat it on a larger scale.

Maybe we can get a pharmaceutical to fund a larger study.

 

[Mazen]

Unfortunately I don't think anybody will sponsor a large study regarding diet. No profit for anyone. It's a greedy world we live in

I have put in another post a study regarding SCD with 20 patients and it had some good results. I wish I could try SCd, but it seems so tough.....

Here is the link to the study again. It is a good one as it introduces SCD first along with keeping the meds you are taking, and then introduce supplements if needed, and reduce meds if things start getting better. I wish there was a study like this in which I can enroll in ,and then I can force myself to go on astrict diet!!!

http://mdheal.org/crohn's.htm

RESULTS: All 20 patients demonstrated a decrease in symptoms and reduction in medication use. Six patients have entered complete clinical remission, discontinued all medication, and maintained remission for five to 80 months

 

[Isla]

Ya 20 people isn't nearly enough. To say that it was the diet at all isn't valid in the least (in the world of statistics.)