Sugar bad for crohns?

[karma_hunden]

sugar bad for crohns?

Is excess consumption of sugars (candies, ice creams, etc) bad for crohns? I mean I know excess sugar aint good in general but is it worse with crohns?

 

[Jer's Girl]

Sugar is my favorite food in all of its forms. I think that it is bad for Crohn's, but as it never gave me the immediately bad side effects that say salad or dairy did (before my ileostomy), I still eat it all of the time much to my health food loving boyfriends dismay.

 

[Keona]

Personally, I think it is but I don't have any proof to back it up. I think too much of anything gets your body out of balance. Someone on here somewhere said that "it's all a balancing act" I think they're right.

Wendy

 

[iminflamed]

There is a direct correlation between refined sugar intake and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

 

[Rebecca85]

Do you have a study or something to support that?

 

[iminflamed]

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/pdf_extract/290/6484/1786-a

If you google scholar it, or go to any other free online journal and type in sugar and inflammation you will probably come up with a few studies supporting that theory.

"the patients who developed Crohn's Disease had a high intake of refined carbohydrates and a low intake of fiber from fruit."

 

[Rebecca85]

Correlation does not always equal causation. Since many people have mild symptoms well before they become ill enough to warrant further investigations, it is possible that people found that fruit fiber made them feel worse and so avoided it.

For example, for years I believed that I had lactose intolerance and so followed a diet with soy instead of milk. My diet pre-crohn's was therefore high in soy. but that doesn't mean the soy caused my Crohn's!

 

[Nicole]

Hi guys,

Since my diagnosis of CD & UC, not a day has passed by that I haven't read some article relative to my conditions. If you speak with your GI, he will definitely instruct you to stay away from extremely sweet and spicy foods, alcohol and cigarettes. Also, high fiber diets can cause tissue scaring and diarrhea. Some fruits can be a major contributor to flares.

Also see link:
http://www.wikihealth.com/Crohn's_and_colitis:_foods_to_eliminate

 

[Rebecca85]

Nope, haven't been told to stay away from sweet foods, spicy foods or alcohol. I have only been told to avoid cigarettes and to follow a low residue diet.

Nice article, but I don't see any empirical evidence there. If sugar causes gas, bloating, diarrhoea, how come I don't have any of those symptoms? How come for some people in a flare, drinking ensure or similar works (almost all the calories in these drinks comes from sugar).

I am not trying to say that sugar isn't bad for you or anything like that.... It's just there are so many theories out there and I have a science background, so like to see evidence and am trained to ask 'what's wrong with the evidence?'.

Also had a pretty bad few days at work and am in a contrary mood

 

[Lynne1408]

I do not avoid sugar, regular refined white sugar. I do however avoid corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup. I also avoid powdered sugar as it is made with corn starch. I also use pure maple sugar instead of the commercial brands which are made with corn syrup. If I avoid these corn sugars I am fine. I can also eat chocolate, usually, as they use sugar. I'm talking pure chocolate bars, not with creams... The only icecream that I can eat are some of the Bryers. Other ice creams contain corn syrup or starches, which I also avoid. I always check the labels. And I can also tolerate Nutella, which is a creamy chocolate and hazlenut spread. It's found near the peanut butters in the grocery store.

 

[HeatherMN]

Nutella--YUM!!
I don't avoid sugar itself, but try to keep it in moderation. Corn Syrup however, I am trying to keep myself and my family from consuming so much of it. Fruits I am OK with, again in moderation. My trigger foods are spicy, fatty and leafy stuff.

 

[Crohn2357]

I have been eating lots of muffins, candy like full of sugar foods for five days and I realised my crohn's symptoms are worsening, especially the blood in stool is getting worse. Can it be related bacterial overgrowth by sugar intake?
Thanks for replies.

 

[UnXmas]

I've just had ileostomy surgery, and sugary sweets are actually one the foods they keep recommending me to have, especially if I need to slow the output from the stoma. Apparently the pectin in them helps. So I've been eating lots of fruit pastilles and jelly bears.

Crohn2357 - As far as I know, sugar won't cause bleeding. If the bleeding is getting a lot worse, you really need to check with your doctor, as you might need a medication change. Also you might need to be checked for anemia.