At Vivante, we’re the digestive health experts. We live for this stuff. Here’s a short summary of some more info our gut health nerds found interesting…
Intro
Belly pain, bloating and diarrhea are just a few of the unwelcome symptoms that most inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients endure. For many of them, though, diet can play a huge role in managing their condition. Food choices might be the only thing standing between:
A) having to take multiple medications (like anti-TNF injections or infusions) while still dealing with constant flare-ups
or
B) having a more benign, milder form of the disease that doesn’t interfere with life
Anti-inflammatory Diet for IBD
The anti-inflammatory diet for IBD is a nutritional regimen based on promoting anti-inflammatory gut bacteria while at the same time reducing the number of pro-inflammatory bacteria in the gut. Its principles are simple: Eat fruits and vegetables, soluble fiber, protein, prebiotics and probiotics. Don’t eat complex carbohydrates—refined sugar, grains, processed foods, most dairy, and store-bought baked goods (bye-bye, donuts).
Is it worth it?
The goals of the anti-inflammatory diet are to decrease the frequency and severity of IBD flare-ups, to obtain remission, and then to maintain it. So far, the results are pretty darn good. As one of the articles below summarizes, 9 out of 11 patients in a case study were able to manage their disease without anti-TNF therapy (drugs like Humira, Stelara, and Remicade). This is huge! And check this out: 100% of the study participants who followed the diet experienced reduced frequency of symptoms. Studies also show patients on this type of diet notice a marked decrease in the severity of their symptoms.
The Takeaway
As with most things in science and medicine, more research is still needed. Researchers won’t definitively say the anti-inflammatory diet for IBD is a sure thing, but the data so far indicate it’s certainly worth trying…even if it means giving up donuts.
About Vivante Health
Vivante Health is an innovative digital healthcare company reinventing the way chronic conditions are managed, starting with digestive disease. Our all-in-one gut health program, GIThrive, empowers people—through brilliant technology and advanced science—to improve their digestive health, while lowering their cost of care. Learn how employers and health plans are saving money with GIThrive.
Sources:
https://www.umassmed.edu/nutrition/ibd/ibdaid/
https://www.umassmed.edu/nutrition/ibd/ibd-aid-research/
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/cts_retreat/2011/posters/15/
