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.
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/
