Aspartame was touted as both sweeter and safer than saccharine, which was a possible carcinogen. But it didn’t take long for scientists to link aspartame to cancer as well as to anxiety.

And unbelievably, aspartame actually makes your body store more belly fat.

Every time a new sweetener comes on the market, it’s hundreds of times sweeter than the previous one. That’s to convince you to try it and get hooked on it.

But any artificial sweetener you can name turns healthy gut bacteria rogue, making you a sitting duck for disease and deadly infections.

Now the next generation of sweeteners is here. But proceed with caution. This one is not only toxic, you may never even know it’s there…

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Neotame: a clear and present danger to your gut

A study at Anglia Ruskin University in England found that neotame attacks the human gut in a one-two punch.

“Our studies indicate that neotame causes an increase in stress signaling in our human cells which reduces the amount of junctions that hold our cells together in a tight barrier,” Havovi Chichger, PhD, BSC, associate professor in biomedical science at Anglia Ruskin University, said in an interview with Medical News Today. 

Weakening the gut barrier causes the leaking of materials from the gut into the blood. This describes a condition known as leaky gut.

The damage to the gut can lead to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and because the gut lining becomes permeable, bad bacteria can move into the bloodstream and lead to sepsis.

Not only that, but the disruption it causes in the microbiome could lead to metabolic disease including insulin resistance.

Shockingly, Dr. Chichger stressed that even in concentrations 10 times lower than the acceptable daily intake her team saw the breakdown of the gut barrier and bacteria shift to damaging behavior.

This new research into neotame builds on previous work by Dr. Chichger which discovered that saccharin, sucralose, and aspartame could cause similar damage in the gut.

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Quick and disturbing facts and safer alternatives

You’re probably pretty convinced this sweetener is something you should avoid. But it may not be so easy.

It is sold under the brand name Newtame®. But since it is about 8,000 times sweeter than sugar, such a small amount is used in products that it may not be required to be listed on ingredient labels.

Here are more quick facts about Neotame that may help you…

• It’s found in sugar-free drinks and chewing gum as well as some foods, including yogurts and especially baked goods. It’s also used as a table-top sweetener for hot drinks, like coffee and tea.
• Neotame enhances or extends the sweetening and flavoring properties of some flavors, especially mint — so steer clear of mint-flavored gums, lozenges or candies.
• It often has a mild aftertaste similar to licorice.
• To avoid it, you need to avoid anything advertised as sugar-free.
• Monsanto (yes, that Monsanto!) was behind the discovery and development of neotame.

Instead of reaching for artificial sweeteners that are devoid of nutrition and directly cause damage to your body, lean towards naturally healthier choices…

Stevia. Not only is this plant-derived sweetener 200 times sweeter than sugar (so you don’t need much), it also has been shown to benefit obesity, diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol — all conditions associated with metabolic syndrome. It’s considered safe for diabetics. Just read your label to be sure the brand you buy contains no added erythritol.

Raw honey is honey that’s been taken from the hive, strained to remove beeswax, then bottled and sold. It hasn’t been pasteurized or processed, so it still has all its natural vitamins, enzymes and phytonutrients.

Yacon syrup is derived from a root vegetable similar to a sweet potato. It’s considered good for people with diabetes because is contains fructooligosaccharides (FOS) — a type of starch (inulin) that isn’t digested, so it shouldn’t raise blood sugar. However, people who are on a FODMAP diet should avoid it. It may also cause upset stomach, gas and nausea in some.

Coconut palm sugar has a low glycemic index but should be treated like sugar because it contains the same amount of calories and carbs.

Blackstrap molasses. Perhaps the most nutritious sugar substitute of all, organic blackstrap molasses is rich in copper, calcium, iron, potassium, manganese, selenium, and vitamin B6. It is low glycemic but people with diabetes should only use in moderation. Make your own brown sugar substitute for baking by using 2 tablespoons for each ½ cup of coconut sugar in a food processor.

Bananas, figs, dates, raisins and no-sugar added apple sauce are also great ways to naturally sweeten a recipe, get a little extra fiber and plant nutrition.

Sources:

Artificial sweetener has potential to damage gut — Eureka Alert

The artificial sweetener neotame negatively regulates the intestinal epithelium directly through T1R3-signaling and indirectly through pathogenic changes to model gut bacteria — Frontiers in Nutrition

Artificial sweetener neotame may have potential to damage gut, lead to IBS — Medical News Today

The post The hidden sweetener tied to IBS, sepsis and insulin resistance appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It’s the biochemical signaling pathway between the gastrointestinal tract and your central nervous system, which has already been associated with bowel disease and dementia, as well as GERD and chronic headaches.

It’s also why a good night’s sleep starts in your gut.

And there’s one more important thing to know about this axis…

It could be the reason that a seemingly unrelated gastrointestinal condition leads to an increased risk of brain aneurysm that leads to stroke.

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Digestive symptoms start, aneurysms may follow

That’s because recent research from a team of scientists at the University of Pennsylvania has found an undeniable link between seven gastrointestinal or GI conditions and intracranial aneurysms.

An intracranial aneurysm (IA) occurs when a blood vessel in the brain bulges, putting pressure on the vessel wall. If this type of aneurysm ruptures, it leads to brain bleeding and causes hemorrhagic stroke, a life-threatening emergency.

For their study, the team analyzed data from over 119,000 people who either had an unruptured intracranial aneurysm or had suffered a ruptured aneurysm, comparing them to an equal number of people without aneurysms. Specifically, they were looking for patients diagnosed with GI conditions to see if those conditions upped their risk of a brain issue.

And sure enough, they found even more than they had been expecting…

The team discovered that not only do GI conditions (as well as appendectomy) and aneurysms go hand-in-hand, certain GI problems make it more likely you’ll suffer an aneurysm rupture and a life-threatening stroke.

The results showed that GI problems that were linked to unruptured aneurysms included:

• Reflux disease
• Chronic stomach pain
• Bloating (or functional dyspepsia)
• Irritable bowel disease without diarrhea

GI conditions that were more likely to lead to aneurysm formation, rupture and stroke were:

• Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
• Diarrhea
• Constipation

“Now that we have found more evidence for a link between IAs and GI disorders, we are eager to explore them further, hoping that early detection of GI syndromes might help identify patients at risk of IAs,” said Jan-Karl Burkhardt, MD, the lead author of the study, associate professor of neurosurgery, and division head of cerebrovascular surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

In other words, if you’re living with GI issues, take time now to talk to your doctor about your increased risk of aneurysm and how you can prevent problems down the road.

Though this study didn’t make the connection, research published in 2023 associated inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with a higher stroke risk as well.

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Knowing the signs and heading them off

This study didn’t explain the exact mechanism behind the connection between GI disorders and aneurysms but as they investigate further, hopefully, they will.

In the meantime, past research has made a connection between stroke and popular medications used to treat conditions like gastrointestinal reflux disease. Some of these drugs may raise the stroke risk as much as 94 percent.

If you take them, talk to your physician about other options — and consider diet and lifestyle modifications that have been shown to help, like weight loss, no smoking, 30 minutes of exercise daily and a diet that doesn’t promote an acid state.

Additionally, be sure to care for the health of your gut, since a balanced microbiome has come to the forefront of research into the gut-brain axis. That includes a diet that contains probiotics and prebiotics, which can help promote regular movements and reduce the risk of constipation and diarrhea.

If you have a GI condition, be sure to know the signs of both types of aneurysm so that you can get help immediately, if necessary.

Signs of an unruptured aneurysm include:

• A dilated pupil
• Numbness, weakness or paralysis of one side of the face
• A drooping eyelid

Once a brain aneurysm ruptures, you can suffer from:

• The worst headache of your life
• Light sensitivity (photophobia)
• Double vision
• Pain behind your eye socket
• Lethargy
• Neck stiffness
• A loss of consciousness

Learn more about aneurysm risks here.

Sources:

SNIS 2024: New study reveals possible link between gastrointestinal syndromes and risk of brain aneurysm — EurekAlert!

Brain aneurysm — Mayo Clinic

The post 7 GI conditions linked with brain aneurysm appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Even when disease is present, eating well may help control symptoms, manage progression and keep the need for medications (that often come with nasty side effects) to a minimum.

Well, score another point for food vs. medication, thanks to recent research proving once again that food is the best medicine…

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What is IBS?

It’s not unusual to have the occasional bout of stomach trouble — stomach pain, gas, diarrhea or constipation can happen to anyone from time to time.

But if you’re dealing with these symptoms on a regular basis, it could be a sign of a gut disorder known as irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS.

No one really knows why IBS strikes some folks and spares others. Unfortunately, it’s fairly common, and can take over your life, leaving you afraid to ever be far from a bathroom… just in case.

But the “inconvenience” of IBS isn’t the worst of it: if you suffer from IBS, you’re not absorbing the important nutrients you need to maintain your health.

Treating IBS

Your doctor may prescribe medications that address the symptoms of IBS by relaxing muscle contractions of the colon to ease diarrhea or by increasing fluid secretion in your small intestine to help you pass stool and avoid constipation. 

Research has shown that following a low FODMAP diet can go a long way in reducing the bowel troubles of IBS and the discomfort that comes along with it.

FODMAP is an acronym for Fermentable Oligo-Di-Monosaccharides and Polyols.

FODMAP works because it decreases the consumption of different carbohydrates (sugars) found in foods — specifically fructose, lactose, fructans, galactans and polyols. They are hard to digest and end up lingering in the gut where they ferment and cause the uncomfortable and unpleasant symptoms of IBS.

But which works better, medication or a change in diet?

A recent study found the answer…

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FODMAP is the clear winner

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden gave three different treatments to three groups of 100 people each — all of whom had moderate to severe IBS symptoms.

The first group was instructed to follow a FODMAP diet. The second group received a dietary treatment low in carbohydrates and high in protein and fats.

The third group received the best possible medication based on the patient’s most troublesome IBS symptoms.

At the end of the four-week treatment period, 76% of those in the FODMAP group saw a reduction in symptoms. In the group receiving low carb and high protein and fat, 71% saw reduced symptoms. The medication group had a reduction of only 58%.

This is good news since traditional medications for IBS can produce side effects ranging from headache, fatigue and heartburn to diarrhea, gas and abdominal pain — the very symptoms they’re meant to eliminate.

How to eat FODMAP

If you or a loved one are living with IBS, you’ll want to give the FODMAP diet a try before turning to medication.

Here are the basics.

Some foods to avoid are:

• High fructose corn syrup
• Dairy items that are high in lactose like milk, ice cream, buttermilk and sour cream
• Grains that contain gluten like wheat, barley and rye
• Certain fruits like apples, mangoes, peaches, pears, plums and watermelon
• Some vegetables like artichokes, cauliflower, mushrooms and sugar snap peas
• Beans and lentils

What you should eat:

• Meat, fish and eggs
• Nuts and seeds
• Corn, oats and rice
• Healthy fats and oils (like EVOO)
• Herbs and spices
• Lactose-free dairy products, as well as hard cheese

Fresh fruits and vegetables that are safe to eat on this diet, include:

• Peppers
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Unripe bananas
• Cantaloupe
• Oranges
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Pineapple
• Grapes

People who suffer from IBS also tend to have certain triggers that cause their symptoms to kick up. Watch out for these 4 things that can cause an IBS flare.

Sources:

Dietary treatment more effective than medicines in IBS — Science Daily

A low FODMAP diet plus traditional dietary advice versus a low-carbohydrate diet versus pharmacological treatment in irritable bowel syndrome (CARBIS): a single-centre, single-blind, randomised controlled trial — The LancetFODMAP Diet: What You Need to Know — Johns Hopkins Medicine

The post Study confirms an IBS treatment better than medicine appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

FODMAP is an acronym for fermentable oligo-di-monosaccharides and polyols. A low FODMAP diet involves decreasing the consumption of FODMAP foods, which can linger in the gut where they ferment and cause the uncomfortable and unpleasant symptoms of IBS.

Foods to avoid include:

• High fructose corn syrup
• Dairy items that are high in lactose like milk, ice cream, buttermilk and sour cream
• Grains that contain gluten like wheat, barley and rye
• Certain fruits like apples, mangoes, peaches, pears, plums and watermelon
• Some vegetables like artichokes, cauliflower, mushrooms and sugar snap peas
• Beans and lentils

The low FODMAP diet was confirmed to work better than medication, but I do get frustrated with how limiting. So I was excited to read about a Swedish study indicating there may be a much simpler way to manage IBS…

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A genetic link to sugar and starch

Bodil Ohlsson, a professor at Lund University, has been investigating the role of sugars and starches in IBS. Her choice is linked to a geneticist’s discovery that more IBS patients tend to have a genetic variation that hinders the breakdown of sugars and starches in the gut.

“‘Let’s try giving these patients less sugar and starch,’ we thought,” Ohlsson says.

A few years ago, she led a study in which 105 people with IBS ate significantly less sugar and starch for four weeks. This diet, known as the starch and sucrose-reduced diet (SSRD), called for avoiding sweets and highly processed foods, including ready-to-eat meals.

The results showed that SSRD greatly reduced IBS symptoms such as recurring pain and tightness in the abdomen and diarrhea and/or constipation.

A more recent study compares SSRD to the FODMAP diet, which is a stricter, more regulated diet than SSRD. The study involved 155 IBS patients who were randomly assigned to follow either SSRD or the low FODMAP diet for four weeks. Before the trial, they were not allowed to have been on any specific diet.

Participants in both groups had to follow the basic principles of each diet; however, they chose how often or regularly they ate.

Results showed that in both groups, regardless of diet, IBS symptoms improved in 75 to 80 percent of the patients. This was even better than the researchers had expected.

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A nice bonus was that in the SSRD group, not only did sugar cravings decrease the most, but weight loss was greater. This is positive because IBS patients tend to weigh more on average than healthy people, Ohlsson says.

 “We wouldn’t really even call SSRD a diet,” she says. “It’s how everyone should eat, not just those with IBS. And unlike low FODMAP, SSRD is easy to understand and easier to follow.”

Ohlsson adds that on SSRD, it’s not necessary to be super-strict at all times. “You can eat everything when you are invited to dinner, just less of certain things,” she says. “If you rest your stomach for the rest of the week, you can indulge a little one day!”

One less thing to stress about

Because stress can be an IBS trigger, having one less thing to stress about, like a super strict diet, is a huge plus.

But omitting sugar and starch is another way that less stress is also built into the SSRD…

That’s because when we eat sugar, our blood glucose rises. The more sugar (or starchy foods) you eat, the faster it rises. This kickstarts the adrenal glands to start pumping out cortisol, the stress hormone.

When our cortisol levels are raised often and for prolonged periods, the adrenal glands can malfunction and begin producing insufficient levels of cortisol, which can be just as problematic.

To help balance cortisol, in addition to avoiding sugar and starch, it’s a good idea to include stress and anxiety-reducing practices as part of your self-care routine.

Sources:

Cutting out sugar and starch is as effective for IBS as current recommendations — EurekAlert!

A Starch- and Sucrose-Reduced Diet Has Similar Efficiency as Low FODMAP in IBS—A Randomized Non-Inferiority Study — Nutients

Digestive symptoms in daily life of chronic adrenal insufficiency patients are similar to irritable bowel syndrome symptoms— PubMed Central®

The post Ditch IBS symptoms when you ditch just 2 foods appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Seniors can commonly experience changes that affect the gut and digestion, including leaky gut, but after extensive testing, she was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

In addition to the advice she got from her doctor, she did a lot of research online to figure out how best to manage her symptoms. And it was there that she got confused. She kept seeing all these references to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which appeared to have similar symptoms to IBS.

It brought up the following questions for her….

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What’s the difference between IBS and IBD?

Though both IBS and IBD have similar symptoms, they are very different illnesses.

IBS is a chronic GI condition causing abdominal pain and bloating and changes in bowel habits. It can be defined as diarrhea-predominant (IBS-D) or constipation-predominant (IBS-C) or a mix of the two. IBS affects an estimated 10 to 15 percent of adults in the U.S., although only 5 to 7 percent have been diagnosed with the syndrome.

IBD is a collection of diseases causing chronic inflammation of the GI tract. IBD isn’t as common as IBS; about 3.1 million U.S. adults have been diagnosed with an IBD. The two most common IBDs are ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

Both IBS and IBD can have the following symptoms in common:

• Diarrhea
• Pain
• Unintended weight loss
• Fatigue

However, IBD can have some symptoms not normally seen in IBS:

• Cramping
• Rectal bleeding
• Reduced appetite
• Anemia
• Fever

And IBS can have some symptoms not seen in IBD:

• Gas
• Constipation
• Bloating
• Nausea
• Mucus in the stool

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Does IBS carry the same risks as IBD?

IBD is a much more dangerous illness than IBS. It can:

• Cause destructive inflammation and permanent damage to the intestine.
• Raise the risk of colon cancer.

By contrast, IBS:

• Does not cause inflammation of the intestine.
• Rarely requires hospitalization or surgery.
• Does not raise the risk of cancer.

Do IBS and IBD have the same cause?

So far, the answer to this question isn’t clear.

One reason IBS is notoriously difficult to diagnose is because its cause is unknown, though some researchers believe a disturbance between the brain and the gut is to blame. Doctors tend to diagnose IBS through a process of elimination, testing for IBD or celiac disease and ruling those out first.

Other potential causes of IBS include GI infection, diet, environmental or psychological factors such as stress and frequent use of antibiotics.

As for IBD, it can be diagnosed with a colonoscopy exam and biopsy of any inflamed areas of the intestine. if you have a family member who’s been diagnosed with IBD, your risk is higher.

Researchers also believe certain environmental triggers may be responsible for IBD, such as high-fat diets, antibiotics and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) use, as well as smoking in people with Crohn’s. Stress can worsen IBD, and an overactive immune system may also play a role in development of the condition.

The good news here is that because these two diseases are not connected, IBS cannot progress into IBD.

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Are IBS and IBD treated the same way?

Interestingly, some of the recommendations for relieving symptoms of IBS and IBD are the same. For example, eliminating dairy can help in both cases, as people with IBS or IBD are often lactose-intolerant. Caffeine can be a trigger for both IBS and IBD as well.

Vitamin D levels may play a role in both IBD and IBS sufferers. Low vitamin D can make IBD symptoms worse and vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in patients with IBS and some research suggests supplementation could be therapeutic.

However, IBS and IBD are treated differently. For IBD, there are medications to treat the disease. However, different people respond to medication differently, so treatment tends to be highly individualized. The goal for IBD treatment is to send the disease into remission, which decreases the chances for complications.

In addition to dairy and caffeine, people with IBD should consider eliminating fructose. At least one study in mice shows large amounts of fructose can inflame the colon.

For IBS, the goal is to manage symptoms like diarrhea and bloating. Some medications exist to treat both IBS-D and IBS-C, but as is the case with IBD, individuals can respond very differently to the treatments.

Many doctors recommend dietary modification to help manage IBS. My mother’s doctor recommended she try a low FODMAP diet to relieve her gas and diarrhea.

FODMAP stands for fermentable, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. Diets high in these types of carbohydrates can cause a lot of gas and bring a lot of fluid into the intestine, which causes a lot of diarrhea. The one drawback to low FODMAP is that it’s a very restrictive.

My mom tried it and found some relief. But what helped her the most was adopting a gluten-free diet. Some IBS patients are sensitive to gluten, so eliminating it from their diet can relieve diarrhea, bloating, pain, flatulence and sometimes even constipation. This is also a restrictive diet, made more difficult since gluten hides in so many products. Whole foods are typically a safe bet, but processed foods can be like maneuvering land mines.

Another potential treatment for IBS involves treating the stress underlying the condition with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or hypnotherapy. Studies show both CBT and hypnotherapy can help relieve IBS symptoms like abdominal pain and bloating and improve bowel function.

Sources:

What doctors wish patients knew about irritable bowel syndrome — AMA

What doctors wish patients knew about inflammatory bowel disease — AMA

IBS vs IBD — Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation

IBS vs IBD — Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

The post Is it IBS or IBD? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, studies have suggested that the virus can cause lasting damage, from heart and breathing problems to kidney failure; and has been linked to eye issues that can cause blindness and to the development of Parkinson’s.

Most of us are lucky enough to have experienced only a mild bout with COVID-19 — but if you’ve noticed some uncomfortable GI symptoms post-infection, COVID may be to blame for that too…

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The GI tract: a virus reservoir

Researchers at Washington University have been detailing COVID-19’s lingering effects since the beginning of the pandemic. To date, they’ve cataloged approximately 80 adverse health outcomes associated with long COVID-19.

According to senior author Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, a clinical epidemiologist at the university, “Gastrointestinal problems were among the first that were reported by the patient community. It is increasingly clear that the GI tract serves as a reservoir for the virus.”

So the team decided to extend their research to look into the virus’ effect on the GI system by analyzing about 14 million medical records. This resulted in the creation of a controlled data set of 154,068 people who had tested positive for COVID-19.

They then used statistical modeling to compare GI outcomes in the COVID-19 data set with two other groups of people not infected with the virus.

Overall, they found that beyond the first 30 days of infection, people with COVID were 36 percent more likely to suffer from a GI disorder than those who had not been infected with the virus.

Compared with patients in the control groups, people who had a previous COVID-19 infection were:

• 62 percent more likely to develop ulcers in the lining of the stomach or small intestine
• 35 percent more likely to suffer from acid reflux disease
• 46 percent more likely to experience acute pancreatitis
• 54 percent more likely to suffer from irritable bowel syndrome
• 47 percent more likely to experience inflammation of the stomach lining
• 36 percent more likely to have an upset stomach without an obvious cause

And that’s not all of it…

COVID-19 patients experienced a 54 percent higher chance of living with digestive symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea, bloating, vomiting and abdominal pain.

GI conditions that the researchers say were associated with a COVID infection ranged from mild stomach issues to life-threatening conditions such as liver failure.

In all, the team estimates that so far, COVID-19 has contributed to more than six million new cases of GI disorders in the US alone!

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Post-COVID gut help

If you were infected with COVID-19 and are now living with serious GI complaints, hopefully, your doctor is aware and doing what he can.

If your symptoms are more uncomfortable and annoying, such as mild IBS or acid reflux, a temporary diet change could provide the relief you need.

According to Dr. Mark Wiley, acid reflux and IBS sufferers should consume plenty of water, alkaline foods (like green leafy vegetables). These are nutritious foods that do not foster an acidic environment in the body (important during the healing process) and that also promote normal bowel elimination.

Fiber may be tricky for you. Fiber helps reduce constipation by helping form stools, but too much can cause cramping and gas. If adding fiber increases your discomfort, cut back down and plan to add it in gradually as your gut heals.

If you’re new to IBS due to COVID, you may not be aware that part of what’s causing your symptoms may be gluten. It irritates the bowels and can cause diarrhea. As such, avoiding products made with wheat, rye and barley (including bread, crackers, etc.) can be helpful.

Digestive enzymes can go a long way in helping with the cramping, constipation, diarrhea, bloating and gas that accidental exposure to gluten can cause.

Healing your gut is paramount in a post-COVID world. A damaged gut is prone to a condition known as leaky gut that increases susceptibility to viral infections.

If fatigue is an unwelcomed bonus to your GI symptoms following a COVID infection, there’s good news: L-arginine and liposomal vitamin C were found to improve that complaint in just 28 days.

Sources:

COVID-19 infections raise risk of long-term gastrointestinal problems – EurekAlert!

The post Gut problems since COVID? You and 6 million others appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

That’s why eating them several times a week is directly tied to developing type 2 diabetes.

Each time I bring up the potato’s less-than-stellar qualities, it upsets some folks. I know you love your potatoes. I did too. But the science says that eating too much of this vegetable is just not good. In the standard American diet, potato-based dishes are far too common…

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Gas, stomach upset, loose bowels, stomach cramps, headache and fatigue. These are all symptoms of a problem more common than you may think: Gluten intolerance. It’s often linked to autoimmune issues. Instead of the body digesting the protein, it treats gluten as an… MORE⟩⟩

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Just think about that for a moment… how many servings of potatoes might you have consumed this week in the form of tots, fries, chips, mashed or creamed potatoes, baked potatoes, hash browns or potato cakes?

Well if you still feel devoted to the one veggie you really should drop from your table, let me bring out the big guns — and this is something even most nutritionists don’t know…

The potato plant comes with its own protection system made up of something called saponins. When mixed with water, saponins form soapy foam.

Have you ever noticed that frothy, thick white foam that accumulates on top of the water when you boil a pot of potatoes? I have. It’s sticky and sometimes hard to clean off the pot, but that’s not the worst of it…

Chemically, saponins are glycoalkaloids. They evolved to protect the potato plant’s root (the part you eat) from attack by microbes and insects — and they are toxic.

When animals, including humans, eat glycoalkaloid-containing tubers such as potatoes, these substances frequently create holes in the gut lining, thereby increasing intestinal permeability. If glycoalkaloids enter your bloodstream in sufficient concentrations, they cause cell membrane destruction of your red blood cells.

Potatoes contain two glycoalkaloid saponins that can wreak havoc on your gut: α-chaconine and α-solanine. In addition to causing leaky gut, they can aggravate inflammatory bowel diseases, like ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome.

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At least 12 separate cases of human poisoning from potato consumption and 30 fatalities have been recorded in medical literature, and are fortunately rare occurrences. But the effects on the gut are likely not so rare.

The recommended safe limit for total glycoalkaloids in potato foods is 200 mg/kg, a level proposed more than 70 years ago. But more recent evidence suggests this level should be lowered to 60 – 70 mg/kg.

I no longer eat white potatoes at all, and my gut issues have all but disappeared — in part, as well, to giving up grains. But if you are not quite ready to totally drop the hot potato from your table, at least try to eat them prepared in ways that expose you to the least toxins.

From the list below, try to avoid any of these potato preparations with a combined glycoalkaloid concentration higher than 70:

Source: Are potatoes paleo–The Paleo Diet

The post Potato soup or toxic soap? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, for the 15 percent of people who live with the condition, never knowing when the pain, cramping, bloating and gas will strike makes each day a challenge. And that’s not even counting the constipation and diarrhea that come part and parcel with the issue.

To top it off, IBS has proven to be a condition that’s extremely hard to treat — meaning that even trip after trip to your doctor may provide little to no relief.

But most people with IBS find relief with the FODMAP diet. It has been shown to help ease the symptoms, but it wasn’t fully understood exactly how.

A team of researchers from Monash University looked into that — and found that not only is the diet beneficial for most with IBS, but a subset of people with the condition can stand to gain even more: relief from the abundant and harmful “pathogenic” bacteria making up their gut microbiome.

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Gas, stomach upset, loose bowels, stomach cramps, headache and fatigue. These are all symptoms of a problem more common than you may think: Gluten intolerance. It’s often linked to autoimmune issues. Instead of the body digesting the protein, it treats gluten as an… MORE⟩⟩

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FODMAP takes down IBS in 2 steps

The low FODMAP (Fermentable Oligo-Di-Monosaccharides and Polyols) focuses on reducing carbohydrate intake — specifically fructose, lactose, fructans, galactans and polyols.

These are carbohydrates that are fermentable inside your body and include the carbs you get from pasta, potatoes and even milk.

To find out exactly how the diet benefits IBS sufferers, the team tested the diet, comparing it to a normal eating pattern (a diet that did not exclude fructose, lactose, fructans, galactans and polyols). But unlike other studies that simply measured symptoms before and after participants followed the FODMAP diet, they took things a step further, delving into the unique composition of each person’s gut bacteria.

And here’s what they found…

Embracing a low FODMAP diet improves the symptoms of three out of four people with IBS.

But for some people, the relief they get is greater — those IBS sufferers that were found to have a “pathogenic” composition of gut bacteria.

In other words, their unique microbial signature was abundant in dangerous bacteria, known to cause disease, including C. difficile, C. sordellii and C. perfringens.

If that was bad enough, their microbiome was very low in beneficial bacteria, like the Bacteroidetes species. When it came to the microbiome lottery, you could say they had the worst of the worst and the least of the good.

But following a FODMAP diet changed all of that.

After just four weeks on the diet, the microbiome of those with the pathogenic profile became healthier, with an increase in Bacteroidetes (the good stuff), and a fall in Firmicutes species (the bad).

But that’s not all it did…

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The researchers also found that some IBS sufferers have bacterial genes for amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism that are overexpressed. That means if you have IBS, chances are that your body digests more of the carbs you eat than someone who isn’t living with the condition.

At the end of the four weeks, those genes involved in the metabolism of amino acids and carbs were no longer overexpressed. 

Feeding gut health

So if you want to battle back your IBS issues and get gut healthy, eliminating problematic carbohydrates and giving the FODMAP diet a try, is step one.

For a quick rundown on foods to avoid, check out this post from my colleague, Jenny Smiechowski.

And for additional help improving your gut composition, be sure to add probiotics to your daily diet. Probiotics work by actually feeding your gut the good bacteria it needs for better health.

You can find them in supplement form, or even better, get them from the food you eat.

Additionally, people following a very low carb diet tend to have issues with constipation. Inulin, a natural prebiotic found in chicory root helps support the natural production of beneficial bacteria in the colon by providing the intestinal fertilizer needed for healthy gut flora.

Sources:

Distinct gut bacterial profile highly responsive to IBS dietary therapy identified – BMJ

The post The FODMAP diet: Reducing symptoms and disease-causing bacteria appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But too often, when their doctor can find no allergic responses to any of the foods they’re eating, people who suffer the very real pain and cramping of IBS are told that it’s “all in their head.”

Since there’s no apparent physiological cause, and because the mechanism that causes IBS is so poorly understood, patients are often left feeling like no one believes it’s a “real” disease, least of all their doctor.

If you have IBS, you know that the pain is all too real.

Now, researchers have discovered the mechanism that causes IBS, and this is opening the door to more efficient treatment of the condition, as well as ways to treat other food intolerances.

An allergic reaction… sort of

People with IBS often report that their symptoms began after a gastrointestinal infection, such as food poisoning.

This fact led scientists at a research university in Belgium to look for the connection between the two… and, they found one.

It seems that IBS is a food allergy — sort of.

Professor Guy Boeckxstaens is a gastroenterologist and lead author of the study. He and his team started with the idea that an infection that occurs while a particular food is present in the gut might sensitize the immune system to that particular food.

The researchers infected mice with a stomach bug, and at the same time fed them ovalbumin, a protein found in egg white that is commonly used in experiments as a model food antigen (a molecule that causes an immune response).

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The mice reacted with the release of histamine, as well as digestive intolerance and abdominal pain.

Once the infection cleared, the mice were given ovalbumin again, to see if their immune systems had become sensitized to it during their illness.

Indeed, they had.

Much in the way that we humans often come to form an association between two things that are randomly placed together, the mice continued to release histamines that caused a painful abdominal reaction, even in the absence of infection. Apparently, the digestive systems of the mice were “suggestible.”

And, significantly, this immune response only occurred in the part of the intestine that had been infected by the bacteria. It did not produce more general symptoms of a food allergy.

So, a piece of the digestive system had become “allergic” to ovalbumin.

Hope for better IBS treatments

The researchers then went on to see if people with IBS would react in the same way.

For a long time, scientists and doctors have wondered why a gluten-free diet, as well as other elimination diets, provides relief to IBS patients when they are not actually allergic to the foods in question and do not have celiac disease, an autoimmune disease caused by a reaction to gluten.

When food antigens associated with IBS (gluten, wheat, soy and cow milk) were injected into the intestine wall of 12 IBS patients, they produced symptoms of IBS: stomach pain, cramping and diarrhea,

As in the mice, though, these symptoms were limited to the area of the injection and did not affect the rest of the intestine or other organs.  

Apparently, IBS is a localizedfood allergy.

As a result of these findings, A larger clinical trial of an antihistamine treatment for IBS is currently underway. Dr. Boeckxstaens is hopeful.

” …  knowing the mechanism that leads to mast cell activation is crucial, and will lead to novel therapies for these patients. Mast cells release many more compounds and mediators than just histamine, so if you can block the activation of these cells, I believe you will have a much more efficient therapy.”

Source:

Scientists reveal mechanism that causes irritable bowel syndrome — Eureka Alert

The post The ‘infection’ allergy that may cause IBS and gluten intolerance appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And while the symptoms of the disease, from pain and cramping to diarrhea and fatigue, are bad enough — every IBD sufferer also faces a dramatically increased risk of colon cancer.

This skyrocketing risk is due to the long-term, chronic inflammation of the gut.

Sadly, while the No. 1 question of most people with IBD is “What can I do about it?” — especially when it comes to diet — the medical community has really not had any hard and fast answers.

It’s really been up to the people living with the disease to determine what foods make them feel worse, upping their inflammation and their cancer risk.

Now, however, thanks to research, we know a little more about what not to eat if you have inflammatory bowel disease. Fair warning — your kitchen and your diet are probably packed with it!

Altering gut bacteria and inflaming the bowel

The study, performed by a team of researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, tested three mouse models of IBD.

The researchers fed the mice high amounts of fructose, a common sugar, and guess what…

Across the board, fructose made inflammation of the colon far worse.

In fact, according to the scientists, a high fructose diet resulted in “notable effects in their gut bacteria including changes in their type, metabolism and localization within the colon.”

But even more, fructose may very well be the cause of rapidly growing cases of IBD…

“The increasing incidence of IBD parallels higher levels of fructose consumption in the United States and other countries,” says David Montrose, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and faculty researcher in the Stony Brook University Cancer Center. “Our findings provide evidence of a direct link between dietary fructose and IBD and support the concept that high consumption of fructose could worsen disease in people with IBD. This is important because it has the potential to provide guidance on diet choices for IBD patients, something that is currently lacking.”

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Ditch IBD by going fructose-free

This means that for anyone living with IBD, a sure way to calm that inflammation and reduce the pain and suffering is to take fructose out of the equation.

Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done, but not impossible — and certainly worth the effort to improve the quality of life for anyone living with this condition.

Fructose is in a huge, ever-increasing number of the foods (and drinks) that most of us consume on a daily basis.

Dietary sources of fructose include:

• High fructose corn syrup — This common fructose source is lurking in candy, sodas, sweetened juices, packaged baked goods, condiments like ketchup and salad dressings, crackers, granola and nutrition bars, and nut butters. Bottom line: if it’s prepackaged, it’s highly likely it contains fructose.
• Fruits and vegetables — Fruits and even some veggies contain fructose. But the ones with the highest levels of fructose are apples, grapes, watermelon, pears, plums, asparagus, sugar snap peas, artichokes, cauliflower, mushrooms and zucchini.
• Sweeteners — Honey, maple and agave syrup are also hidden sources of fructose.
• Chewing gum — Most chewing gums contain fructose or sugar alcohols that can worsen symptoms of IBD.
• Jams and marmalades — Made with fructose-rich fruits, jams and marmalades are a no-go if you’re trying to avoid the sugar.
• Sweet wines — Dessert wines such as muscatel, port and sherry sport a high fructose content.
• Miscellaneous — Also check ingredient lists for crystalline fructose, sorbitol, fructooligosaccharides, corn syrup solids and sugar alcohols.

So, if you’re living with IBD, whether Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis, that is the list of foods you want to avoid.

One diet that follows along the lines of avoiding those foods is the FODMAP diet. FODMAP is an acronym that stands for Fermentable Oligo-Di-Monosaccharides and Polyols.

It’s a mouthful, but it’s basically the more scientific name for different carbohydrates (sugars) found in foods — specifically fructose, lactose, fructans, galactans and polyols.

IBS sufferers following the low FODMAP diet were also more likely to report a major improvement in their quality of life than those in the control group following a common sense “healthy” diet: 61 percent versus 27 percent.

For more details on following a FODMAP diet, visit this link at IBS Diets.

Sources:

Study reveals dietary fructose heightens inflammatory bowel disease — EurekAlert!

Fructose content of food — Food Intolerance Diagnostics

Fructose intolerance: Which foods to avoid? — Mayo Clinic

What foods contain high fructose corn syrup? — MedicalNewsToday

Fructose-Restricted Diet — UW Health

Diet and Inflammatory Bowel Disease — NCBI

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Prevalence (IBD) in the United States — CDC

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) — Mayo Clinic

Clinical trial demonstrates success of low FODMAP diet — Michigan Medicne

The post The one ingredient that could turn around inflammatory bowel disease appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Unfortunately, the mere fact that I’ve taken antibiotics opens me up to a bunch of long-term risks…

Research shows that about 1 in 10 people deal with negative effects after taking antibiotics. This could include anything from chronic diarrhea to the sudden appearance of allergies to issues with blood sugar.

These negative long-term side effects not only occur because antibiotics kill the healthy bacteria in your gut (which is damaging enough in its own right)… they occur because antibiotics also kill intestinal epithelium cells, which perform some pretty important tasks for your body.

These cells help your body absorb water, glucose and essential nutrients and deliver it to the bloodstream. They also create a barrier between the bacteria in your gut and the rest of your body. When this barrier is damaged, you end up with a little something called leaky gut, which can have a wide range of negative effects on your health.

But of all the potential impacts antibiotics can have on your health, there’s one that’s starting to appear more common — and more serious — than all the others…

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) explained

Inflammatory bowel disease is a term used to describe two different conditions — Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Both of these conditions are caused by inflammation in the digestive tract and have similar symptoms… chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloody stools, weight loss and fatigue.

The difference between the two is the part of the digestive tract they affect. Crohn’s usually affects the small intestine (although, it can impact any part from the mouth to the anus). Ulcerative colitis affects the colon and rectum.

Depending on the severity, IBDs like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis can be very serious. Complications from these conditions can even kill you (although it’s rare). At the very least, they take a huge bite out of your quality of life by tethering you to the bathroom and in some cases preventing you from working and living a normal life. That’s why it’s a scary thought that taking antibiotics nearly doubles your risk…

Antibiotics are closely connected to new cases of inflammatory bowel disease

A new study from researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that people who have taken antibiotics have a much higher risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease than people who haven’t.

In the study, researchers looked at health records for close to 24,000 people with new IBD cases. They cross-referenced this information with data on antibiotics prescribed to these individuals. And they compared this data with health and antibiotic records from 28,000 of their siblings. They also looked at health and antibiotic data from 117,000 controls from the general population. What they found was alarming…

People who had taken antibiotics at some point in their lives nearly doubled their risk of developing IBD when compared to people who had never taken them. Of course, people who’d taken the most antibiotics seemed to have the highest risk of all. And a higher risk was also associated with taking antibiotics that had a greater spectrum of microbial coverage (i.e., killed a wider variety of bacteria).

“To identify risk factors for IBD is important, and ultimately our aim is to prevent the disease,” says senior author, Professor Jonas F. Ludvigsson. “Our study provides another piece of the puzzle and even more reason to avoid using antibiotics needlessly.”

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How to protect yourself from the antibiotic-IBD connection

If this study doesn’t scare you out of taking antibiotics when they’re not absolutely necessary, I don’t know what will. The problem is a lot of doctors are still pretty trigger-happy when it comes to prescribing antibiotics. Research from 2016 shows that antibiotics are the drug most commonly prescribed for conditions where they’ll have no real value.

So, be a savvy patient and don’t accept antibiotic prescriptions blindly. In fact, Choosing Wisely, an initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation, recommends asking the following five questions before accepting an antibiotic prescription to reduce the odds of taking antibiotics unnecessarily:

1. Do I really need antibiotics? (If the issue you’re dealing with is a virus rather than a bacterial infection, the answer to this one should be no).
2. What are the risks?
3. Are there simpler, safer options?
4. How much do they cost?
5. How do I safely take antibiotics?

These questions are a good starting point for opening up an honest dialogue about antibiotics with your doctor. You can also turn to natural antibiotics for minor infections, like these:

• Manuka honey. Studies show Manuka honey can kill antibiotic-resistant Staph bacteria (a.k.a. MRSA). It’s also been shown to stop the bacteria behind chronic bladder infections and penetrate biofilms (thin layers of bacteria that adhere to your tissues). That’s an impressive skill since biofilms are notoriously antibiotic resistant.
• Oregano oil. Oregano oil contains a powerful plant compound called carvacrol, which has been shown to fight pneumonia, E. coli and MRSA.
• Olive leaf extract. Research shows olive leaf extract is highly effective against certain bacteria, like Campylobacter jejuni (a bacteria behind food poisoning), Helicobacter pylori (a bacteria that increases your risk for cancer) and Staph (including antibiotic-resistant Staph). It also knocks out several other foodborne pathogens, like Listeria, E. coli and Salmonella.
• Honokiol. Honokiol (a compound extracted from magnolia bark) has been shown in several studies to battle antibiotic-resistant Staph bacteria. It also fights bacterial biofilms just like Manuka honey.

Sources:

1. Antibiotic use has more unwanted effects than previously thought — Medical News Today.
2. What is inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)? — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
3. Antibiotics associated with increased risk of inflammatory bowel disease — MedicalXpress.
4. Antibiotic use and the development of inflammatory bowel disease: a national case-control study in Sweden — The Lancet.
5. S. doctors still overprescribing drugs — CBS News.
6. 5 Questions to Ask Your Doctor Before You Take Antibiotics — Choosing Wisely.

The post Antibiotics double your risk of inflammatory bowel disease appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

For many, the cause of these changes can seem unpredictable and seem impossible to stop.

But the truth is, there are a number of common triggers that can make your IBS worse that, if you avoid, can make living with your condition much easier.

Here are the top four ways you could inadvertently trigger an IBS flare…

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#1 — Including FODMAPs in your diet

The majority of people with IBS find that certain foods simply disagree with them. The problem is that which foods produce the worst symptoms can vary widely between IBS sufferers.

However, some of the most common foods that can cause you trouble if you’re living with IBS fall under the FODMAPs umbrella. These are foods that are known for being difficult to digest and are not well absorbed. And those two issues together can lead to a buildup of gas and even fluid in your digestive system and the pain and bloating that seem to go hand in hand with IBS.

Foods to consider that could be on your “trigger list,” include:

• Dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt thanks to their lactose composition
• Foods with high levels of fructose, from high-fructose corn syrup to fruits that you would think were good for you such as apples and watermelon
• Sweeteners such as xylitol, mannitol and sorbitol
• Fruits and veggies like apricots, cauliflower, peaches and avocados due to their polyol content
• Oligosaccharide rich foods such as legumes, onions, asparagus, broccoli and artichokes

Yes, a huge portion of that list would seem to be healthy but can actually be responsible for worsening your IBS issues.

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One more thing to be aware of when it comes to your diet…

Although they’re not actually on the FODMAPs list, both caffeine and alcohol can be an issue for people with IBS since according to the Mayo Clinic, they may cause bloating. Weirdly enough, however, this isn’t always the case since caffeine may also help IBS sufferers with constipation by stimulating a bowel movement.

This means that keeping track of how the foods and drinks you consume affect you is key.

#2 — Eating too quickly

In addition to what you eat, how you eat matters when IBS is part of your daily life.

In fact, eating too quickly can cause what’s known as aerophagia, which is a fancy way of saying that you’ve swallowed too much air. And when this happens, gas and bloating can be just a step behind.

For this same reason, chewing gum or even smoking can worsen your symptoms also.

#3 — Stressing out

If you have IBS, stress can do far more than just keep you up and night, worrying. It can also result in the activation of hormones that increase the motility of your gut.

And since people with IBS can experience this increased gut motility as pain, it’s easy to see why taking steps to ease and manage your stress could be beneficial.

That’s why it’s recommended that IBS patients spend time on self-care activities like meditation, yoga or simply taking a walk or relaxing in the bath.

#4 — Not getting enough sleep

Although the mechanism of action isn’t well understood, the research shows that lack of sleep or low quality sleep can have negative effects on your IBS issues.

In fact, a 2017 study found that poor sleep correlated with increased abdominal pain, GI issues and a higher number of days with IBS symptoms.

Researchers believe that the link may be due to the effect of poor sleep on your stress levels and the corresponding change in gut function.

Successful care for your IBS

Although it may seem like an IBS diagnosis means a lifetime of suffering, the truth is that by identifying your triggers and taking steps to avoid the things that worsen your symptoms, you can improve the function of your digestive tract and grab more symptom-free days.

One last note… because IBS often accompanies autoimmune disorders, be sure to explore all possibilities for other causes that can contribute to flares.

Sources:

1. Irritable Bowel Syndrome Diagnosis — Mayo Clinic
2. Treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome — NIH
3. Effects of Disturbed Sleep on Gastrointestinal and Somatic Pain Symptoms in IBS — NCBI
4. Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Immune Fitness and Insomnia: Results from an Online Survey Among People Reporting Sleep Complaints — Springer Link
5. Irritable Bowel Syndrome Symptoms and Causes — Mayo Clinic
6. The Role of Visceral Hypersensitivity in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Pharmacological Targets and Novel Treatments — NCBI
7. The gut-brain axis: interactions between enteric microbiota, central and enteric nervous systems — NCBI
8. Low-FODMAP Diet for Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome — NCBI
9. 7 Ways You Could Accidentally Be Making Your IBS Worse — Self
10. Common Triggers For IBS — Mercy Health

The post 4 things that trigger an IBS flare appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Do you have any food allergies or intolerances? Are you reacting to FODMAPs? Should you eat smaller meals?

Figuring this stuff out involves a lot of doctor’s office visits and diet-related experiments. And sometimes, even after all that, you still don’t have a firm idea of what’s causing your gut trouble.

People in this situation often get diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and end up going on restrictive diets that they aren’t sure make a difference.

But what if you could get rid of your gut trouble without changing anything in your diet?

It sounds too good to be true, but it’s possible. A new study shows that gut issues may have more to do with stress than the contents of your stomach.

This mindfulness program slayed IBS symptoms

A new study published in the journal Neurogastroenterology & Motility found that a mindfulness program designed to reduce stress significantly improved gastrointestinal symptoms in people with IBS.

The study included 53 women and 15 men with IBS. They all participated in an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction class that taught them how to cope with stress better using mindfulness.

Researchers measured participants’ symptom severity, quality of life and IBS-related anxiety before the study, three months after the study and six months after the study. Guess what happened?

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In the words of researchers, mindfulness‐based stress reduction training led to “robust improvements” in IBS symptoms, anxiety and quality of life. The best part? These improvements happened without making any diet changes or taking any medications. All people in the study did was learn how to better cope with stress.

Here’s more good news: Researchers were able to narrow in on one aspect of mindfulness that seemed to have the biggest impact on IBS sufferers — the ability to stay in the present moment and act with awareness.

Making mindfulness-based stress reduction part of your gut health plan

If you’re interested in soothing chronic stomach symptoms, mindfulness-based stress reduction may be the place to start. That doesn’t mean you can’t make diet changes as well. Get tested for food allergies and take other commonsense steps to rule things out. But if there’s no easy answer to your stomach problems, mindfulness-based stress reduction may prevent you from having to go on an unnecessarily restrictive diet long-term.

Related: The many benefits of ‘mindful eating’ and how to start

There are a lot of ways to learn mindfulness-based stress reduction. There are books, videos, courses, coaches and teachers who specialize in mindfulness-based stress reduction.

Jon Kabat-Zinn is the creator of mindfulness-based stress reduction. He has plenty of books and audio programs you can get on Amazon or at your local library. You could also try this free online course. Who knows? A little mindfulness may go a long way toward a happier, healthier gut.

Sources:

1. Mindfulness program may benefit patients with irritable bowel syndrome — MedicalXpress.
2. Mindfulness‐based stress reduction improves irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms via specific aspects of mindfulness — Neurogastroenterology & Motility.
3. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: What It Is, How It Helps — Psychology Today.

The post How getting mindful can help eliminate chronic stomach symptoms appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

You’re stuck with chronic stomach cramping, diarrhea, gas, and other uncomfortable symptoms. And your doctor can’t do much to help.

Luckily, for some people with IBS, the true cause could be coming out of the woodwork…

It turns out those chronic stomach symptoms may be tied to something that happened to you months or even years ago — a gut infection you thought was long gone.

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The connection between gut infection, inflammation, and IBS

Let’s say you’re on vacation in Mexico and you end up with a case of traveler’s diarrhea (a form of food poisoning). You feel lousy and you’re disappointed that you can’t take advantage of the beautiful resort. But you know that if you rest for a few days and drink plenty of water, you’ll be fine. Here’s what you don’t know…

This common and seemingly minor gut infection could set you up for chronic gut problems down the line. A new study from Rockefeller University shows that a common gut infection like food poisoning could lead to long-term problems like IBS.

In the study, researchers infected mice with a form of Salmonella that causes food poisoning, then took a closer look at the neurons in the intestine. If you’re thinking… “Neurons?? In the intestine???” let me explain…

Your gut is often called your body’s “second brain” because it contains about 100 million neurons. That’s more than your spinal cord or peripheral nervous system.

In this study, researchers found that Salmonella triggered an immune response that triggered inflammation in mice. This inflammation actually killed neurons in their guts. Fewer neurons in the gut can lead to uncomfortable IBS symptoms like constipation, among others.

Related: IBS: 4 ways to find relief

It’s scary to think a common gut infection could lead to long term gut problems. But here’s some good news…

In past work, these researchers also found that Salmonella disrupts the microbial balance in the guts of mice… but when they restored the microbial balance back to normal, some of the damaged neurons recovered.

Get your gut back in balance

Let’s face it… almost all of us have had food poisoning at some point. If yours led to long-term gut issues like IBS, there may be a way to get your gut back in balance — take probiotics.

Probiotics provide a daily dose of healthy bacteria that can help reset your microbial balance after bad bacteria messes it up. Probiotics also have an anti-inflammatory effect that can help counteract some of the inflammation caused by the gut infection (you know, the same inflammation that kills your neurons).

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Here are some of the most research-backed probiotic options for IBS:

• If you struggle with constipation, B. lactis, S. cerevisiae, and some multi-strain probiotics are proven effective.
• If diarrhea is your primary symptom, B. coagulans, S. boulardii and certain multi-strain probiotics could help.
• If gas and bloating are your biggest concern, L. plantarum or a multi-strain probiotic is probably the way to go.
• Plantarum S. cerevisiae, B. bifidum, B. lactis, L. acidophilus, and L. casei all help with stomach cramping in IBS.

Here’s another tip: If you develop food poisoning in the future, start taking probiotics right away. Don’t wait for uncomfortable, chronic stomach symptoms to surface.

Sources:

1. Scientists examine how a gut infection may produce chronic symptoms — MedicalXpress
2. Adrenergic Signaling in Muscularis Macrophages Limits Infection-Induced Neuronal Loss — Cell
3. Everything You Want to Know About IBS — Healthline
4. How Probiotics Can Help Fight IBS — Healthline

The post The common gut infection that leads to long-term tummy trouble appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Our guts are ailing us on a massive scale. Acid reflux, ulcers, constipation, diverticulitis, leaky gut syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel diseases, food allergies, and intolerances.

Something is not agreeing with our guts. The question is… what can we do about it?

Diet’s going to play the biggest role in getting your gut health back on track. But I’m also a fan of using supplements to support your gut health. Some of the most popular gut-supporting supplements are probiotics, digestive enzymes, collagen, and fiber.

But there’s another supplement you may not immediately associate with gut health even though it has an amazing ability to get a grumpy gut back in alignment — algae.

The algae that gets IBS in check

A new study from researchers at the University of California San Diego found that an algae called C. reinhardtii improves diarrhea, gas and bloating associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

The study included 51 people. Some of these people had symptoms of IBS, others didn’t. But they all received daily spoonfuls of powdered C. reinhardtii.

Everyone in the study kept track of their gastrointestinal health for one month. And people with IBS reported less gastrointestinal symptoms during that period.  They had:

• Less bowel discomfort
• Less diarrhea
• Not as much gas or bloating
• More regular bowel movements

Now, before you run to the store to buy yourself a bottle of C. reinhardtii, you should know, this is the first time C. reinhardtii’s effect on human health has been studied. It’s been studied extensively for other purposes, like its potential as a biofuel. It’s even been studied in mice before…

In fact, mouse studies show that C. reinhardtii stops weight loss in mice with acute colitis, an inflammatory disease that affects the digestive tract and causes unhealthy weight loss.

But it’s new to the human health arena, so you probably won’t be able to buy it for a while. That’s okay, though. You have plenty of other algae options…

The other algae that can tame a grumpy gut

C. reinhardtii is far from the only algae with beneficial effects on the digestive system. Other algae species contain healthy oils, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, antioxidants and fiber that can support digestion and overall health. One that I’d recommend trying is spirulina.

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Spirulina is blue-green algae that grows naturally in mineral-rich alkaline lakes. It contains protein, complex carbohydrates, iron, and vitamins A, K, and B. It’s also an antioxidant reported to have anti-aging and anti-cancer properties. Reported health benefits include cholesterol balancing, anxiety relief, metabolism support and, of course, digestive help.

Some people say it tastes like a mouthful of lake water. But if you add a powdered scoop to a smoothie or stir a spoonful into your favorite berry yogurt, you won’t even notice it’s there. But your digestive system will be happy it is.

Sources:

1. Algae shown to improve gastrointestinal health— MedicalXpress
2. Effects of the microalgae Chlamydomonas on gastrointestinal health— Journal of Functional Foods
3. Time To Stock Up On Seaweed: New Study Finds Algae Can Help Leaky Gut— MindBodyGreen
4. Leaky Gut Supplements: What You Need to Know to Feel Better— Healthline
5. 15 ways superfood spirulina will surprise you— Easy Health Options

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And most people have heard of inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

But SIBO is a condition that most don’t know about.

It’s related to IBS and IBD but isn’t the same thing.

The symptoms can be just as painful, though.

It’s important to understand this little-known bowel and stomach condition so that if it is the cause of your stomach issues, you can get the proper treatment…

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A staggering 70,000,000 people suffer from digestive issues, such as occasional bouts of constipation, upset stomach, bloating and gas. Relief from drug store remedies is often short-lived. But the simple solution to this embarrassing problem is… MORE⟩⟩

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What is SIBO?

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO, is just what it sounds like: an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine, where they don’t belong.

It occurs when the small intestine doesn’t move food along well enough. The mechanism of peristalsis (intestinal contractions that move food down into the large intestine) is impaired or not working at full capacity.

Chronic constipation (also known as “lazy bowel syndrome”) allows time for harmful bacteria to multiply and stick to the small intestinal walls.

Risk factors for SIBO include:

• Ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease
• Diabetes
• Scleroderma (a rare autoimmune connective tissue disorder)
• HIV
• Parkinson’s disease
• Hypothyroidism
• Medications that slow down the gut, such as oxycodone or morphine
• Low production of stomach acid (gastric acid)

Anything that slows the movement of the small intestine, or small bowel, can be a setup for SIBO, including:

• Older age
• Long-term use of proton pump inhibitors (medications that reduce stomach acid)
• Having had bowel surgery
• Having recently completed a course of antibiotics

Which came first, the chicken or the egg, and why is this so important?

It’s hard enough dealing with IBS, IBD or SIBO, without trying to understand what all the acronyms mean, and how they relate to each other.

Here’s how the three are connected.

SIBO is often (but not always) the cause of irritable bowel syndrome. In fact, it’s estimated that 84 percent of people with IBS also have SIBO.

On the other hand, inflammatory bowel disease can cause SIBO.

The inflammation of Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis can cause the digestive system to either slow down (constipation) or speed up (diarrhea). Either of these scenarios gives bacteria a chance to overgrow in the small intestine.

Irritable bowel disease can also interfere with the function of the migrating motor complex, a reflexive action of the gut which is responsible for moving food through the digestive system.

It’s kind of like a broom that “sweeps” food through the digestive system. When this action is interrupted, the bacterial overgrowth of SIBO can occur.

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How is SIBO diagnosed?

“The gold-standard test for SIBO is a small bowel aspirate, but it’s invasive and expensive,” says Hazel Veloso, a gastroenterologist at Johns Hopkins Health Care and Surgery Center in Lutherville, Md.

This test uses an endoscope to sample fluid from the small intestine, which is then tested for the presence of bacteria indicating SIBO.

A less invasive way to test for SIBO is a lactulose breath test.

During the test, a person will drink a sugar lactulose beverage and then breathe into a balloon or a set of test tubes every 20 minutes, for several hours. The breath test measures the concentration of hydrogen and methane in a person’s breath.

The test works because bacteria produce these two gases when they break down carbs in the gut. The hydrogen and methane molecules enter the bloodstream, travel to the lungs and leave the body through the breath.

Treatment and prevention of SIBO

The main objective of SIBO treatment is to get your gut bacteria back in balance. This can be done with antibiotics.

But in order to avoid taking more antibiotics, which can potentially backfire and cause more problems, a dietary approach can be taken.

Eating mostly plant-based foods and avoiding sugary, processed foods will allow “good” bacteria to grow, and stop “bad” bacteria from overgrowing.

A low FODMAP diet may also help. It restricts foods that are difficult for the body to digest, such as beans and apples.

A regular exercise program may also help regulate the body’s digestive functions.

If you are experiencing pain, bloating, gas and digestive trouble on a regular basis, the best thing you can do is consult your doctor, who can help you pinpoint what’s causing the problem.

Then, you can create a treatment program involving diet, exercise and/or medication that will treat your condition successfully.

Sources:

1. Your Irritable Bowel Issues Could Be Caused by a Little-Known Gut Condition — ScienceAlert
2. Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth — Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology
3. IBS, IBD, SIBO: What’s the Difference? — Pearl Natural Health
4. SIBO Diet 101: What You Should and Shouldn’t Eat — Healthline

The post Could SIBO be causing all your stomach problems? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

One day you’re eating chorizo-filled burritos and French fries without so much as a stomach grumble.

The next, you’re cautiously chewing brown rice, vegetables and baked chicken praying it won’t send you running to the bathroom for a cataclysmic bowel evacuation.

Every day, you’re plagued with diarrhea, cramping, bloating, constipation, indigestion, fatigue… and it came out of nowhere.

The bad news is, no one knows for sure why IBS strikes some and spares others. It’s a mysterious disease. But despite its mysteriousness, there is one thing we do know about IBS — it’s closely linked to your mind and emotions.

Now, I’m not saying that it’s all in your head. But just like most other diseases, stress is a major trigger for IBS. And managing stress could be your path back to a gut that doesn’t cause you grief every time you eat…

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2 therapies that go to the root of IBS relief 

A new study from researchers at the University of Southampton and King’s College London shows that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) could offer serious relief to people with IBS.

The trial included 558 people who had long-term, severe IBS symptoms that didn’t respond to other treatments. Researchers asked them to participate in eight sessions of an IBS-specific Cognitive Behavioral Therapy program.

After a year, people who participated in CBT had less severe symptoms and significant improvements in their work and social lives compared to people who received other IBS treatments.

In case you’re not familiar with CBT, it’s a type of psychotherapy that helps you identify dysfunctional thoughts and feelings and swap them for more functional (and realistic) ones. It’s helpful for anxiety, depression, addiction, phobias and, now it seems, IBS.

Of course, this isn’t the first time a deep dive into the mind has helped people with IBS. A small study conducted earlier this year found that IBS sufferers who underwent hypnotherapy experienced significant improvements in things like abdominal pain, abdominal bloating and bowel function.

They also saw improvements in nausea, headaches, heartburn, low backache, lethargy, chest pain, and bladder problems. Plus, their anxiety and depression decreased and their quality of life increased.

Sounds like the secret to solving — or at least improving — this serious gut issue is inside your mind.

Use your mind to tackle IBS

Stress takes a major toll on your body. So, it’s no wonder tackling the root of stress — your thoughts and feelings — relieves IBS. If you’re one of the 20 percent of people who have IBS, you may want to give this mind stuff a try.

Now, it’s not always easy to find someone who specializes in treating IBS through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or hypnotherapy near you. But here’s the good news… in both studies, people successfully treated their IBS through remote therapy sessions.

In the CBT study, people received their therapy through telephone sessions or an interactive website (both worked equally well). In the hypnotherapy study, people received their therapy via Skype.

In-person sessions work too if that’s what you prefer. But it’s good to know that you can get the help you need no matter where you live or what your schedule.

If you want to find a therapist nearby to help you with your IBS, search this Psychology Today database for hypnotherapy and this one for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. A quick Google search will turn up many hypnotherapists who operate via Skype. And when it comes to CBT, you’ll find websites that offer affordable CBT programs, as well as therapists who operate via phone or Skype.

Here’s to less stress and better bowel health!

Sources:

1. Irritable bowel syndrome — Mayo Clinic
2. CBT can provide better long-term relief for IBS symptoms — MedicalXpress

The post Ready to put your mind to it and significantly improve IBS symptoms? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But for those with the most severe cases it feels very serious…

Some people suffer from IBS for decades. They have to eat restrictively. So restrictively, they can only tolerate cottage cheese, rice cereal, pretzels and egg whites, or some other combination of bland foods.

They become malnourished. They suffer from fecal incontinence. Their social lives and careers suffer.

Some spend time in the hospital getting IV fluids when their condition is at it’s worst. Some even become suicidal.

So, even though IBS isn’t quite as dangerous as Crohn’s or Colitis. It can still be serious.

It’s a struggle to find a treatment that works for a bad case of IBS too. The first line of defense are treatments like low-fiber diets, low-FODMAP diets, anti-spasm drugs, laxatives and anti-diarrheals.

But if you’ve tried it all, and nothing worked, fear not. There’s another effective treatment for your IBS you probably haven’t tried — hypnotherapy.

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Hypnosis squashes IBS symptoms

Hypnosis has sort of a sketchy reputation because of cheesy Las Vegas stage shows. But hypnotherapy can help with actual mental and physical health conditions.

In fact, a new study published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology found that hypnosis can make a real difference in the lives of at least 40 percent of IBS sufferers who try it. And it’s effects last for months.

This was the largest randomized clinical trial of hypnotherapy for IBS ever conducted. And the results show that individual hypnotherapy relieves symptoms in 40 percent of people with IBS, while group hypnotherapy relieves symptoms in 33 percent. Plus, relief lasts for nine months after treatment.

Most importantly, though, IBS sufferers who try hypnotherapy not only feel that their condition has improved, they feel more equipped to cope with it. They also feel less troubled by their symptoms. And anyone who suffers from a chronic health condition knows, these mental benefits are priceless. They help you maintain your sanity even when your symptoms are at their worst.

And just so you know, this is far from the only study on IBS and hypnosis. Researchers conducted the first study on IBS and hypnosis in 1984. That study found that IBS sufferers who received seven 30-minute hypnotherapy sessions had less abdominal pain, abdominal bloating and bowel dysfunction. They still felt better one to five years after the study ended.

A 2015 study found that hypnosis helped 76 percent of people with hard-to-treat IBS slash their symptom severity in at least half. So, hypnosis is a serious treatment for serious cases of IBS.

Treating IBS with hypnosis

Should you try hypnosis for your IBS?

It seems like a safe option. It’s basically extreme relaxation combined with guided visualization. What could go wrong?

That said, for hypnotherapy to be effective you should see a trained, licensed hypnotherapist. There is an art to the practice, so you don’t want to get hypnotherapy from any Joe Schmoe on the street.

Look for someone who’s licensed through the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) or the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. They’re required to have a doctorate level degree in medicine, dentistry, or psychology, or a master’s degree in nursing, social work, psychology, or marital/family therapy plus approved training in hypnotherapy.

Read: The best foods and supplements to soothe IBS

You can search for a qualified hypnotherapist near you on the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis’ website. Remember, however, that there’s something else to look for besides certification—a good bedside manner.

A hypnotherapist dives deep into your mind, so the whole process will run a lot smoother if you feel safe and comfortable around your hypnotherapist. Don’t hesitate to ask your hypnotherapist questions on the phone before scheduling a session. Or maybe stop by his or her office to meet in person. That’s a simple way to ensure that your hypnosis is a success and your IBS is a thing of the past.

Sources:

1. The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology: Hypnotherapy could help relieve irritable bowel syndrome symptoms — EurekaAlert
2. Efficacy of individual and group hypnotherapy in irritable bowel syndrome (IMAGINE): a multicentre randomised controlled trial — The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology
3. Is Hypnosis Good for IBS Symptoms? — Tonic
4. Hypnotherapy — Psychology Today

The post How to hypnotize your bowel problems away appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

When you go for a walk, bike ride or workout your gassy, crampy stomach makes you feel like going home and hiding under a blanket on the coach. Plus, every time you leave the house, you have to locate the nearest bathroom immediately… just in case.

It’s a very limiting way to live. And it can easily prevent you from getting the exercise you need. But what if I told you that the very thing you’re avoiding could be the key to relieving your symptoms?

Research shows that if you can just get over those uncomfortable, IBS-related hurdles to exercise, it could be the solution to your IBS symptoms that you’ve been searching for.

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How exercise helps IBS

A recent study from researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy in Sweden shows that increasing your activity levels could decrease your IBS symptoms significantly.

The study included 102 people with IBS who were given advice on how to be more active. Their goal was to perform 20 to 60 minutes of moderate to hard physical activity three to five times a week.

Just 12 weeks after upping their activity levels, 40 percent of participants noticed substantial improvements in their IBS symptoms. Here are some of the benefits they experienced:

• More stable intestinal function (a.k.a. less tummy trouble)
• Better control (a.k.a. less bowel control issues like constipation and diarrhea)

Researchers tracked the participants after the study too. And the positive results held strong for over five years. This is huge news for people with stubborn and/or severe cases of IBS!

What exercise is best for IBS?

People in the study did a variety of exercises — cycling, aerobics, walking. But the type you choose will depend on your preferences and symptoms.

For example, in the beginning, you may want to exercise indoors, where a bathroom is always nearby.

Some people also find that bouncy motions contribute to cramping and diarrhea. So, you may want to avoid running or other forms of exercise (including certain sports) where you’re jumping up and down a lot.

Anything too intense (like CrossFit, sprinting, or HIIT, for example) could upset your digestive system as well.

Exercises that increase your activity level while reducing stress are a great option for people with IBS since stress increases the risk and severity of IBS. Here are five IBS-friendly forms of exercise:

• Yoga is a perfect choice for someone with IBS because many of the postures help with digestion and elimination.
• Brisk walking is also a good option since it’s low-impact and stress-relieving.
• Swimming is another ideal form of exercise for people with IBS. It’s an easy, low-impact way to stretch, move and burn a ton of calories.
• Biking is a good way to get some exercise in without aggravating IBS symptoms, as long as it’s a smooth ride. Avoid bumpy trails and stick to flat, paved roads.
• Tai chi is great for people with IBS too, because it’s basically moving meditation. And there’s a strong correlation between what’s going on in the mind (i.e. high levels of stress and anxiety) and the severity of IBS symptoms.

The post Why that thing you’re avoiding could help fix your IBS appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

According to the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, about 2 in 3 irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) sufferers are female, and about 30% of all visits to the G.I. doctor are due to IBS symptoms.

If this sounds like you, you might be wondering if there are ways to stop the cycle of abdominal pain and distress.

The good news is there are, indeed, natural and effective methods to control and greatly reduce IBS symptoms…

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1. Medication and IBS

Certain foods and medications are known to trigger IBS. Medications such as prescribed or over-the counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs) and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may trigger abdominal discomfort and distress in IBS sufferers, and should be used minimally. If you suffer from pain and inflammation, here are natural ways to relieve without the GI irritation. You can also refer to my book, Natural Solutions for Pain and Inflammation, for even more you can do.

2. Diet and IBS

There are foods to avoid if you suffer from cramps, excessive gas, bloating or abdominal discomfort. These include beans, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, raw fruits, and carbonated drinks like soda and sparkling water. Fatty, greasy foods, caffeinated beverages, alcohol, sugar, chocolate, artificial sweeteners and dairy are known to cause constipation.

Gluten is also indicated in IBS. Gluten irritates the intestines and causes diarrhea. Avoid products made with wheat, rye and barley (such as bread, crackers, pastries, etc.).

A diet rich in dark-green leafy vegetables and fiber rich fruits like blackberries and raspberries promotes normal, regular bowel movements. While fiber helps reduce constipation by helping form stools, too much can cause cramps and gas. You can reduce fiber intake if you see a link between it and symptoms. You can get more fiber from supplements such as Metamucil or Citrucel. Remember to drink plenty of water with added fiber.

It is also important to eat at regular meal times and not skip meals. Eating smaller, more frequent meals is helpful if diarrhea is an issue. Keeping a food journal is helpful to see what foods may trigger IBS symptoms. Record foods eaten, any symptoms, and when symptoms occur.

3. Supplementation and IBS

Supplements helpful for IBS include probiotics, peppermint oil and Iberogast.

Probiotics are gut friendly bacteria essential for healthy digestion. They are naturally found in fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, tempeh, miso, yogurt, kefir and kombucha. You can also take a probiotic supplement. Be sure to ask someone at a health food store or supplement shop for advice before selecting one.

Peppermint oil has positive effects on IBS because of its anti-spasmodic properties. Taking 1-2 capsules three-times per day for 6 weeks shows effective for IUBS relief in those without serious complications of diarrhea and constipation.

Iberogast (also known as STW-5), is a proprietary formula of nine plant extracts that is proving helpful for the pain symptoms associated with IBS.

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Gas, stomach upset, loose bowels, stomach cramps, headache and fatigue. These are all symptoms of a problem more common than you may think: Gluten intolerance. It’s often linked to autoimmune issues. Instead of the body digesting the protein, it treats gluten as an… MORE⟩⟩

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4. Stress Management and IBS

Stress can easily build up and worsen IBS symptoms if left unchecked. There are several stress management techniques and practices I recommend to reduce the effects of stress on the body.

• Set priorities: Don’t attempt to do more than you can and don’t feel bad saying no or delaying work, activities or other commitments.
• Reframe: Adopt a reframing skill from programs like NLP or the Sedona Method to help reduce stress. This means confronting doubts, fears, anxieties and other psychological issues.
• Exercise: Sign up for bi- or tri-weekly yoga classes, Pilates, qigong or tai chi to help align mind, body and spirit. Get moving!
• Relax: Engage in meditation or other deep-relaxation practices every evening. The body metabolizes stress hormones during rest and sleep, so relaxing the mind and body prior to sleep can offer an even stronger “sleep repair” and stress release.
• Get out of your rut: Take a vacation or staycation and chill out. Even if you think there’s no time, your body and mind will benefit greatly from the break.

Conclusion

IBS is a painful and often life-altering syndrome. With some planning and implementation of the above solutions, you should be able to reduce its frequency, duration and level of discomfort.

The post Get IBS under control in 4 steps appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Autoimmune diseases, cancer, diabetes, heart disease are all linked to low vitamin D levels. You’ve probably read about the connection between vitamin D and some of these diseases in the news.

But there’s one disease that a lot people don’t realize is connected to vitamin D deficiency — irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Irritable bowel syndrome is the most common gastrointestinal disorder in the U.S. Chances are, you or someone you know has it. Although, it’s not a disease most of us like to talk about, since the symptoms are so embarrassing and unpleasant…

Gas. Stomach pain. Bloating. Diarrhea. Constipation. You get the picture.

Even though irritable bowel syndrome isn’t as serious as some of the other diseases tied to vitamin D deficiency, it makes you miserable and interferes with optimum health. So you want it to stop ASAP.

The problem is, like so many other diseases, there’s no final word on what causes it or how to treat it. But if you have IBS, the solution to your super cranky gut may be as simple as taking a vitamin D supplement…

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Vitamin D and IBS

A recent study from the University of Sheffield in the UK found that people with irritable bowel syndrome are more likely to have vitamin D deficiency. They also found that vitamin D supplements can ease IBS symptoms.

University of Sheffield researchers reviewed seven existing studies on vitamin D and IBS. Four of the studies were observational studies and three were randomized controlled trials.

After looking at these studies, they concluded that people with irritable bowel syndrome were significantly more like to have low vitamin D levels than the general population. In fact, one of the studies they examined found that 82 percent of IBS sufferers had low vitamin D levels.

These researchers also concluded that vitamin D supplements reduced IBS symptoms like abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea and constipation.

Considering most IBS sufferers struggle to find a successful treatment for their problem, this is big news. A cheap, highly available supplement could be the solution!

Slaying IBS with vitamin D

If you have irritable bowel syndrome, get your vitamin D levels tested pronto. If you’re vitamin D deficient, a supplement could help tame your symptoms.

But FYI… if you do decide to try a supplement to solve your IBS, you’ll probably need to take a high dosage. Official recommendations for vitamin D are currently set at 600 to 800 IU per day. But people with IBS seem to find success with doses much higher than that…

One study found that IBS sufferers who received 50,000 IU of vitamin D3 every two weeks for six months, substantially improved their symptoms. That averages out to about 3,500 IU of D3 per day. One published case study found that 3,000 IU of D3 per day did the trick for another IBS sufferer.

So shoot for something in the 3,000 to 3,500 IU per day range. Vitamin D toxicity doesn’t become a problem unless you’re taking 40,000 IU per day for a couple of months or longer. That means you’re well within the vitamin D safety zone — and hopefully the IBS-free zone too!

The post The vitamin deficiency driving bowel problems appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

No one should live with the kind of abdominal cramping and discomfort that makes daily living so miserable and depressing.

But if this is your battle, you’re not alone — and there’s help…

Up to 15% of Americans suffer from this disease, resulting in 3.5 million doctor’s visits in the U.S. alone. In fact, it’s one of the most common problems seen in physician offices.

Yet, despite seeing so many patients with the condition, doctors still don’t have a good answer. They’ll prescribe drugs designed to stop the bowel spasms, but even those can worsen your constipation and lead to new problems — like trouble urinating.

Fortunately, new research is shedding light on a much simpler answer to overcoming your irritable bowel syndrome — both the physical symptoms and the depression that can come with it…

Thanksgiving’s answer to gut inflammation

Scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine found that when mice who had a common form of bacteria in their gut, known as Lactobacillus reuteri, were fed foods rich in tryptophan — that compound in Turkey that makes you nap away Thanksgiving Day — they developed cells that prevented and calmed inflammation of their bowels.

When the researchers doubled the amount of tryptophan in the mice’s feed, the number of these inflammation-balancing cells rose by about 50 percent. When tryptophan levels were halved, the number of cells dropped by half.

This research suggests that the combination of a bacterium that normally lives in your gut along with a diet rich in tryptophan can promote a more tolerant, less inflammatory gut immune system and provide you with the relief you’ve been searching for.

How to get more tryptophan in your diet

Tryptophan is an amino acid, a building block of proteins, that is essential to maintaining your body’s optimal health.

It acts like a natural mood regulator since it has the ability to help the body produce and balance certain hormones naturally. Supplementing with tryptophan-rich foods or taking supplements helps bring on natural calming effects, induces sleep, fights anxiety and can also help your body burn more fat.

Tryptophan is commonly found in our diets in protein-rich foods. However, dieting, being chronically stressed, consuming too few calories, exercising a lot and having any form of inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders or liver damage can all lead to less tryptophan being absorbed and therefore a possible deficiency.

Although tryptophan is generally associated with turkey, you can also get it from many other foods like:

• Cage-free eggs (especially the whites)
• Wild-caught salmon or cod
• Grass-fed beef or lamb
• Poultry (not just turkey)
• Spirulina
• Whole grain oats
• Brown rice
• Corn
• Quinoa
• Organic dairy products (milk, yogurt, cottage cheese)
• Bananas
• Beans
• Green peas
• Nuts (cashews and walnuts)
• Seeds

To make sure you get enough tryptophan in your diet, aim to have protein with each meal (the recommended daily allowance is 50 grams). Both plant and animal foods provide tryptophan, but in general animal foods are a more concentrated and complete source of all the amino acids and proteins you need.

So, if you’re suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, put out the fires of inflammation and get your life back by using the foods above to get more tryptophan in your daily diet — along with a good probiotic to keep your gut microbiome brimming with healthy bacteria.

The post The IBS hack that soothes your gut and mood appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

They’re all signs your digestive health is on the fritz.

Sometimes these symptoms are temporary… maybe a sign you’ve taken one too many trips through the fast food drive-thru lately.

But if they go on too long, you may end up in your doctor’s office searching for a formal diagnosis for your digestive dilemma. More often than not that diagnosis will be irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

IBS is one of the most common gut issues. But, just because it’s common, doesn’t mean it won’t make you miserable. It takes the joy out of eating, because you’re always afraid you’re going to have an uncomfortable reaction. And in social situations, the symptoms are embarrassing to say the least.

There’s not much conventional medicine can do for you if you have IBS. Your doctor can offer drugs that may provide some symptomatic relief like diarrhea medication, anti-spasmodic medication and laxatives. But these are only Band-Aid solutions.

Luckily, natural remedies can come to your rescue. Probiotics, a healthy diet and stress-reduction techniques all help in the battle against IBS. But if you’ve already tried these to no avail, there’s one other thing you can do to get your digestive health back on track…harness the healing power of essential oil… particularly peppermint oil.

Peppermint prevents IBS symptoms

Peppermint oil is the most beneficial essential oil when it comes to gut health. It reduces intestinal spasms, alleviates stomach pain, quells nausea and relieves constipation. It also has antibacterial properties that can help knock out nasty buggers like H. pylori if they’re lurking in your gut.

So is it any wonder, then, that researchers have found peppermint oil has an impressive ability to battle IBS too?

Several studies over recent years have demonstrated peppermint oil’s positive impact on IBS symptoms. One 2008 study that included 400 IBS sufferers found that only 26 percent of people who took peppermint oil continued to have IBS symptoms, but 65 percent of people who took the placebo continued to have symptoms.

Other recent double-blind, placebo-controlled studies found that peppermint oil worked for 70 to 85 percent of IBS sufferers. And it worked quickly — it took effect within two to four weeks!

Choosing the right kind of peppermint oil

If you do decide to try peppermint oil for your IBS, I have one word of warning…

Stick to enteric-coated peppermint oil (ECPO) capsules. It’s the type that’s used in many of these studies, and it prevents you from experiencing an uncomfortable side effect that can happen when you take peppermint oil internally — acid reflux.

Considering you’re trying to get rid of all your gut issues, you don’t want to unintentionally cause another one. Luckily, the enteric coating on these peppermint oil capsules prevents them from dissolving in your stomach. Instead they pass through your digestive tract and end up in your intestines before the peppermint’s let loose in your body. That prevents it from triggering an uncomfortable case of acid reflux. In most studies on peppermint oil and IBS, people took between 180 and 200 mg of enteric-coated peppermint oil (ECPO) peppermint oil per day, so you’ll probably want to take a similar dosage to win the battle against IBS once and for all.

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Even though this medical syndrome is wide-spread, the root cause in unknown.

There are, however, ways to naturally control for it as well as reduce its symptoms.

In my last post, we looked at how traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can help IBS focusing on stress reduction techniques. But diet and nutritional supplementation can play an important role in the prevention and reduction of symptoms associated with IBS as well…

Dietary considerations for IBS

Diet is an interesting study because what is deemed healthy for many can be detrimental to others. For example, nuts are healthy and their fats and nutrients are a much needed part of a healthy diet; yet, for migraine sufferers, nuts can be a nasty trigger that sets a path to pain. For those suffering with IBS, food represents the same double-edged sword.

For most ailments, including IBS, there is food to eat more of that can be helpful, and there are foods to avoid that can make matters worse.

Foods to avoid

In general, IBS sufferers should avoid foods that are fatty, greasy and high in caffeine, alcohol, sugar and dairy. These are foods that cause constipation.

Moreover, foods that cause excessive gas and bloating should also be reduced or avoided. These include: beans, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, raw (uncooked) fruit and carbonated drinks like soda and sparkling water.

Gluten is also shown to be an issue for people with IBS, as it irritates the bowels and can cause diarrhea. As such, avoiding products made with wheat, rye and barley (including bread, crackers, etc.) can be helpful. (Although, fiber is recommended; which means this is an area where personal measure will be made.)

Additional items to be careful of are chocolate, artificial sweeteners and certain medications (like NSAIDs) that affect the GHI tract.

Food to consume more of

IBS sufferers should consume plenty of water, alkaline foods (like green leafy vegetables) and fiber. Basically, we are talking about foods that are nutritious, do not foster an acidic environment in the body, and that also help maintain normal bowel elimination.

Fiber is needed and good, but can be tricky. Fiber helps reduce constipation by helping form stools, but too much can cause cramping and gas. There really is not an agreed on measure of how much fiber is good or detrimental with IBS, so you will need to experiment. But certainly, do not avoid it because you have had issues. You can reduce the amount if you have had issue.

Since gluten tends to be hard on those with IBS, getting your fiber from non-bread foods, like vegetables, beans and grains is the better bet. Fiber supplementation is also a good way to increase fiber and psyllium (Metamucil) and methylcellulose (Citrucel). Of course with fiber you need plenty of water.

Supplementation

Supplements can also be helpful for IBS, including probiotics, peppermint oil and Iberogast.

Probiotics are live (good) bacteria that are great for your gut and are naturally found in fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, tempeh, miso, yogurt, kefir and kombucha. A probiotic supplement can also be taken if the above foods are not to your liking. Just do some research before simply grabbing a cheap brand off the store shelf. Some are bogus, so look at reviews or ask someone in a health food store or supplement shop for advice.

According to a study based on meta-analysis of 16 clinical trials, peppermint oil has positive effects on IBS because of its anti-spasmodic properties. The studies investigated 180-200 mg enteric-coated peppermint oil (PO) for 651 IBS patients with recurrent abdominal pain. Taking 1-2 capsules three-times per day for 6 weeks “may be the drug of first choice in IBS patients with non-serious constipation or diarrhea to alleviate general symptoms and to improve quality of life.” Their conclusion should be followed.

Iberogast (also known as STW-5), is a proprietary formula of nine plant extracts that is proving helpful for the pain symptoms associated with IBS. Like peppermint, Iberogast has anti-spasmodic properties. According to this study, “The extracts of the herbal combination preparation STW 5 (Iberogast®) exert pharmacological effects in different gastrointestinal regions and can address symptoms of both FD [functional dyspepsia] and IBS.”

Additional tips

When it comes to preventing, reducing or managing the symptoms of IBS, you want to keep things moving while reducing inflammation, constipation and pain.

If constipation remains an issue, saline enemas (like Fleet) and osmotic laxatives (like milk of magnesia or polyethylene glycol) can also be used in moderations. The increase in fiber, water, alkaline foods and supplementation should be most helpful, though.

Additional tips include eating at regular meal times. Not skipping meals has been shown effective in regulating normal (timely) bowels. Moreover, smaller and more frequent meals can be helpful if diarrhea continues to be an issue.

Exercise is also a boon for IBS because it helps reduce inflammation, reduce stress and depression, and stimulates intestinal contractions.

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According to the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, about 2 in 3 IBS sufferers are female; people of all ages (even children) can be affected, yet most are under the age of 50; and about 30% of all visits to gastroenterologists are due to IBS symptoms.

While the root cause of IBS has not yet been identified, the symptoms can be debilitating and are triggered by diet and stress. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) views IBS as a syndrome of imbalances.

Today, I’d like to discuss how traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can help rebalance the issues that cause IBS symptoms followed by some stress release methods for alleviating that trigger.

Common IBS symptoms

IBS is an abnormal condition of the intestinal tract. People suffering from IBS complain of the following common symptoms:

• Abdominal bloating and gassiness
• Chronic (if not intermittent) abdominal pain and discomfort
• Irregular bowels on a spectrum of more than three per day or less than three per week
• Difficulty passing stools, a feeling of urgency to do so, and feelings of the bowel movement being “incomplete”
• Malformed stools that tend to be either hard and lumpy or loose and watery.

IBS according to TCM

The theories of TCM hold that there are several “patterns of imbalance” at the root cause of IBS symptoms. These patterns are differentiated by sets of symptoms and are thus treated with different patent herbal formulas.

In terms of the mental-emotional causes of IBS, TCM distinguishes several syndromes. Let’s take a look.

Liver qi stagnation

“Liver qi stagnation” is among the most common cause wherein the stress or emotional upset “stagnates” the liver energy, slowing the release of blood and overheating the spleen and stomach.

This imbalance is made worse with emotions and stress, and its symptoms include alternating diarrhea and constipation, irritability, depression, mood swings, tension and spasm in the neck and upper back, epigastric pain, abdominal pain and/or bloating, hypochondriac pain, cold fingers and toes.

An effective Chinese patent herbal formula for this type of problem is Chai Hu Shu Gan Wan (Bupleurum Soothe Liver Teapills).

Liver qi invading the spleen

Another syndrome is known as “liver qi invading the spleen.” With this syndrome there is a marked emotional component that worsens with stress and emotional upset.

Symptoms include abdominal pain and cramping, irritability, anger, moodiness, depression and recurrent, explosive diarrhea. The diarrhea here is a physiological response of the body to prolonged, repeated or severe emotional and psychological stress. After the diarrhea episode the person usually feels better, if only temporarily.

A strong herbal formula for this is known as Tong Xie Yao Feng Wan (Calm Wind Tea pills).

Liver qi stagnation with food / damp stagnation in the intestines

Another form of IBS — predominate diarrhea type — is known as “liver qi stagnation with food or damp stagnation in the intestines.” This syndrome presents with indigestion, flatulence, belching, acid reflux, abdominal distension and pain, tendency to constipation, sluggish bowels or alternating bowel habits.

This type of IBS is typical among office workers who are habitually stressed, overworked and sedentary, leading to a slowing down of peristalsis due to hyper tonicity in the gastrointestinal system. Chinese herbs, such as Mu Xiang Shun Qi Wan (Saussurea Qi Promoting Pills), help this syndrome.

5 stress reducers

Because stress not only triggers IBS but also makes its symptoms worse, getting a handle on this is a key to the relief and prevention of IBS symptoms.

You can modify the stressors that you have control over and you can learn to modify your response to the stress that you don’t have control over. Here are some natural stress reduction techniques I recommend.

1. Set priorities:Do not attempt to do more than you can and don’t feel bad about saying no or delaying new work, activities or other commitments.
2. Reframe: Adopt a reframing skill from programs like NLP or the Sedona Method to help reduce the stress associated with certain aspects of your personal and professional life. This means dealing with problems like doubts, fears, anxieties and other psychological issues..
3. Exercise:Sign up for bi- or tri-weekly yoga classes, Pilates, qigong or tai chi to help align mind, body and spirit. With so many areas of life pulling our strings, we easily can detach from our centers and become a tripartite being, when we live best as one.
4. Relax:Engage in meditation or other deep-relaxation practices every evening. The body metabolizes stress hormones during rest and sleep, so relaxing the mind and body prior to sleep can offer an even stronger “sleep repair” and stress release.
5. Get out of your rut:Take a vacation and chill out. If you think there is no time and if you have not had a vacation in a while, your body and mind could be stressed more than if you were able to step away from work and life for a few days. Even if you have no budget to travel, sometimes a staycation is all you need to get back to your personal life and reduce the pressures of daily stress.

Additional thoughts…

According to the Mayo Clinic, even though the symptoms of IBS are uncomfortable, they do not cause underlying changes in bowel tissue or increase your risk of cancer. This makes IBS an illness rather than a disease (like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease), thus offering psychological relief from possible outcomes.

IBS can be treated naturally and many of the methods are within your own grasp and easily embraced. Here, we discussed Chinese herbals and stress relief. Next week, in Part 2, we’ll look at how diet and supplements can help reduce and prevent IBS symptoms.

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We had been close since our college days, so I couldn’t understand what was different, and why she didn’t want to make plans with me.

Instead of letting it eat at me, I finally just told her how it was making me feel, in hopes that she would come clean. And she did.

Turns out my friend was suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). That means at any given time she could be suffering gas, bloating, constipation or diarrhea… and symptoms like that made it hard for her to plan anything. In fact, she was hardly getting out of the house.

IBS is one of those conditions that mainstream doctors used to cover a laundry basket of symptoms. But the most they typically do for it is prescribe an antispasmodic medication. As with most medicines, this only masks the problem, and allows the root cause of the condition to continue to eat away at you.

That makes no sense. Damage to your gut can affect your total body health and increase your risk for intestinal cancers.  Instead of applying a band aid, there are two simple ways to give IBS the heave-ho and get your life back…

Remove the worst food offender

I follow the paleo diet. That means I’ve given up grains and most carbohydrates from my diet, especially potatoes.

I written a few times about the not-so-hot potato — mainly about its extremely high glycemic index rating that makes them even worse for spiking your blood sugar than table sugar or high fructose corn syrup.

But there’s something else you may not know about potatoes. Carbohydrates are poorly absorbed by the small intestine and can worsen IBS symptoms.

Potatoes contain glycoalkaloids — a toxic protection system against insects. When humans eat glycoalkaloid-containing tubers such as potatoes, these substances frequently create holes in the gut lining, thereby increasing intestinal permeability. Think leaky gut syndrome.

Unfortunately other foods that are high in fructose and glucose can aggravate IBS symptoms too, like apples, pears, onions, artichokes, and large amounts of wheat.  You should probably steer clear of lentils, cabbage, plums and artificial sweeteners too.

These recommendations are based on the Fodmaps diets for IBS sufferers, but don’t fall far from a simple paleo diet. I know my digestive discomforts eased greatly when I switched to a basic paleo real food diet, with pasture-raised meats, leafy greens and nutrient-dense vegetables.

Remove emotional triggers

Modern life is stressful. It’s filled with tiny worries about unchecked emails, family obligations, car troubles, financial missteps—not to mention world affairs. And it doesn’t take long before these stressors takes a toll on your gut…

Gastrointestinal disorders, like IBS, are especially tied to stress almost as much as diet. But stress both increases your chances of getting IBS and makes the disease more severe. That may be why stress-relieving activities can have a big impact on IBS symptoms and quality of life…

Take yoga, for example. Researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany recently reviewed six randomized controlled trials that examined yoga’s effect on IBS. Amazingly enough, they found that yoga decreased the frequency of IBS symptoms, the severity of IBS symptoms and anxiety related to the disease. These researchers also found that yoga improved IBS sufferers’ quality of life and ability to function.

Now, there are a lot of potential reasons why yoga is effective against IBS. But there are two reasons that make the most sense. First, yoga is a form of physical exercise, and exercise is beneficial in relieving IBS, like it is for most other diseases. But most importantly, yoga helps calm your sympathetic nervous system, otherwise known as your “fight or flight” response…

You see, your body can’t tell the difference between being chased by a lion and feeling overwhelmed by a growing stack of unpaid bills. Your sympathetic nervous system responds to both of these scenarios as if your life was in immediate danger. It sends extra energy to certain parts of your body, like your muscles, to help you fight off the “deadly” threat. To do this, however, it has to shut off the energy supply to other important bodily systems, including your digestive system.

If you’re feeling stressed out on a daily basis, you can assume certain parts of your body aren’t getting the energy supply they need. And, as you can imagine, your organs can only go so long without a sufficient energy supply before they begin to suffer and fall into a state of disease. But, since yoga calms your sympathetic nervous system, it can stop this unnatural stress response and hopefully the diseases connected to it — like IBS.

Now, there’s no prescribed type or amount of yoga you have to do to improve your stress levels and your health. In the studies researchers reviewed, IBS sufferers found both hatha yoga and Iyengar yoga helpful for their IBS symptoms. And they practiced yoga anywhere from two times per week to two times per day.

What’s most important, is that you do yoga consistently. Pick a time every week (or every day) to do yoga and stick to it. If you do, you’ll find the stress relief and health benefits you’re looking for. If you’re ready to give yoga a try right now, here’s a short yoga routine that can provide relief from your digestive symptoms and the stress that aggravates them.

These two recommendations worked for my friend, and I’m glad we are enjoying activities together again. I hope it works for you.

Sources:

1. “Stress Management.” The Mayo Clinic. http://www.mayoclinic.org. Retrieved November 27, 2016.

2. “Irritable bowel syndrome.” The Mayo Clinic. http://www.mayoclinic.org. Retrieved November 27, 2016.

3. “Stress and IBS.” The International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. http://www.aboutibs.org. Retrieved November 27, 2016.

4. Schumann, et al. “Effect of Yoga in the Therapy of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review.” Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Retrieved November 27, 2016.

5. “Yoga for Bloating, Digestion, Ulcerative Colitis, IBS & IBS.” YouTube. Sara Beth Yoga. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvAx7q2LKqk. Retrieved November 27, 2016.

6. http://www.aboutibs.org/what-is-ibs-sidenav/diet-and-ibs.html

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What is SIBO?

The large intestine, or colon, is normally rich with bacteria. Normally you have 10⁸ bacteria per ml of fluid and 10¹⁰ bacteria per gram of feces in your colon—preferably mostly healthy gut bacteria. Now compare that with your small intestine where you normally have around 10⁴ organisms per ml. That’s about 10,000 to 100,000 times more bacteria in your colon than in your small bowel. ^[1]

What happens when your small bowel bacteria grow beyond 10⁵ bacteria per ml? This is considered small intestinal bowel overgrowth (SIBO) with typical symptoms consisting of nausea, gas, bloating, constipation, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, fatigue, or even malabsorption and weight loss.

Sounds a lot like IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome) symptoms wouldn’t you say? In some studies using the hydrogen breath test method of detection, up to 80% of patients with IBS have SIBO, and there has been shows a 75% improvement in IBS symptoms following therapy (eradication of bacteria) for SIBO. ^{[2] [3]} Therefore, you can make a strong argument that by treating underlying SIBO, which I believe is much more common than people report, you can reverse postprandial bloating and distension, altered motility, increased gut sensitivity.

With SIBO there is increased permeability of the small intestinal wall. ^[4] Sounds a lot like leaky gut syndrome, wouldn’t you say? I have written before that when large unwanted food proteins get into your bloodstream through a leaky intestinal lining that causes a hypersensitive immune response, a major contributor of chronic disease. ^[5]  No wonder treating SIBO also treats fibromyalgia, rosacea, and more that I’ll discuss below.

With SIBO you may develop anemia (low red blood cell count) from vitamin B12 malabsorption. Older folks with SIBO will often develop diarrhea and chronic malnutrition.

Risk factors

Want to know what makes you more likely to have SIBO? You are at higher risk for it if you have:

• Altered intestinal bacteria from antibiotic use, prednisone (or other immunosuppressant medications), gastroenteritis, or inherited immune system disorders
• Chronic use of proton-pump inhibitors ^[6] (Nexium^®, Prolosec^®, etc.)
• Anatomical changes in the small bowel from surgery, Crohn’s disease, or IBS
• Poor bowel motility such as is more common in people with diabetes, scleroderma, and celiac disease
• Not enough digestive enzymes (providing more undigested food for bacteria to feed on) or chronic pancreatitis (pancreas secretes your digestive enzymes) ^[7]

Ileocecal valve dysfunction

Furthermore, you can see that if your large intestines become out of balance with gas-producing bacteria, there is clearly increased likelihood of developing SIBO too as they are connected by the ileocecal valve which is a sphincter opening but not a one-way valve. Ileocecal Valve Syndrome or dysfunction is reported alternative medicine practitioners to be very common. Even in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, Ileocecal valve dysfunction was shown to be highly correlative of symptoms in small intestinal bacterial overgrowth as reported in a 2012 World Journal of Gastroenterology ^[8] article. These patients with a poorly functioning ileocecal valve had higher symptoms scores for loss of appetite and bloating, feeling excessively full after meals, or not being able to finish a normal sized meal.

Fibromyalgia

You may already know that the causes of fibromyalgia are poorly understood. It turns out that the test for SIBO, lactulose breath testing, is abnormally elevated in people with fibromyalgia. ^[9] Furthermore, the researchers that found this out also demonstrated a correlation between the amount of fibromyalgia pain and the degree of breath test result abnormalities. A later study showed increased fibromyalgia pains correlated with increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut). ^[10]

Rosacea

SIBO is certain to play an important role in the face skin rash condition, rosacea. Significantly more people with rosacea had an abnormal hydrogen breath test (47%) compared to people without rosacea (5%), indicating abnormal intestinal bacteria as a likely cause or strong contributor. Then, those with abnormal breath tests were treated with the antibiotic rifaximin (from my previous article, this antibiotic stays in the digestive tract) for 10 days. Of these, 96% of them achieved complete remission of rosacea for longer than nine months.

Just to verify this correlation between SIBO and rosacea, those who recovered completely were re-tested and found to have normal breath test results, plus, those 4% of people who did not recover from rosacea were also re-tested and found to still have bacterial overgrowth and were treated again with rifaximin, which not only cleared up their rosacea rash, but also normalized their hydrogen breath test. ^[11]

What’s even more interesting, another study found that those people with rosacea who did not clear up with rifaximin and had normal hydrogen breath testing, had an abnormal methane breath test and then cleared their symptoms and their methane breath test with a course of the antibiotic metronidazole, known to be for methanogenic intestinal bacteria ^[12] (which is common in IBS).

You can also expect improvement in rosacea symptoms by going off bread and simple carbohydrates, which lowers fermentation of bacteria. ^[13] Coming from someone who suffers with rosacea only when I eat bread or simple carbohydrates, I can say this works extremely and reliably well for me!

Treatment for SIBO

As with treatment of IBS, you can see that treatment is similar for SIBO. Use correct diet as described last week for IBS treatment or prescription antibiotics that stay predominately in the digestive tract and have no clinically relevant bacterial resistance. ^[14] The best of these antibiotics are rifaximin and metronidazole.

To feeling good with optimal health,

Michael Cutler, M.D.
Easy Health Options

[1] Quigley E, Quera R; Quera (2006). Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth: roles of antibiotics, prebiotics, and probiotics. Gastroenterology 130 (2 Suppl 1): S78–90.
[2] Pimentel, Mark (2006). A new IBS solution: bacteria, the missing link in treating irritable bowel syndrome. Sherman Oaks, CA: Health Point Press. ISBN 0977435601.
[3] Reddymasu SC, Sostarich S, McCallum, RW (Feb 22, 2010). Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in irritable bowel syndrome: are there any predictors? BMC gastroenterology10: 23.
[4] Lykova EA, Bondarenko VM, Parfenov AI, Matsulevich TV; Bondarenko; Parfenov; Matsulevich (2005). “[Bacterial overgrowth syndrome in the small intestine: pathogenesis, clinical significance and therapy tactics]”. Eksp Klin Gastroenterol (in Russian) (6): 51–7, 113. PMID 17378388.
[5] Swank GM, Deitch EA Role of the gut in multiple organ failure: bacterial translocation and permeability changes. World J Surg. 1996 May;20(4):411-7.
[6] Lo WK., Chan WW. (May 2013). Proton pump inhibitor use and the risk of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth: a meta-analysis. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 11 (5): 483–90.  PMID 23270866.
[7] Quigley E, Quera R; Quera (2006). “Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth: roles of antibiotics, prebiotics, and probiotics“. Gastroenterology 130 (2 Suppl 1): S78–90.doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2005.11.046. PMID 16473077.
[8] Miller LS, Vegesna AK, et al. Ileocecal valve dysfunction in small intestinal bacterial overgrowth: A pilot study World J Gastroenterol. 2012 Dec 14; 18(46): 6801–6808. Published online at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3520169/
[9] Pimentel M, Wallace D, Hallegua D, et al. April 2004. A link between irritable bowel syndrome and fibromyalgia may be related to findings on lactulose breath testing. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 63 (4): 450–2. PMID 15020342.
[10] Goebel A, Buhner S, Schedel R, Lochs H, Sprotte G. August 2008. Altered intestinal permeability in patients with primary fibromyalgia and in patients with complex regional pain syndrome. Rheumatology (Oxford, England) 47 (8): 1223–7. PMID 18540025.
[11] Parodi A, Paolino S, Greco A, Drago F, Mansi C, Rebora A, Parodi AU, Savarino V. May 2008. Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth in Rosacea: Clinical Effectiveness of Its Eradication. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 6 (7): 759–64. PMID 18456568.
[12] UEGW Vienna 2008 – 16th United European Gastroenterology Week (link not active)
[13] Paton E, Murray E, Watson WC. 19 February 1966. Intestinal Disaccharidase Activity in Rosacea. British Medical Journal 1 (5485): 459–460.
[14] Pimental M. Review of rifaximin as treatment for SIBO and IBS. Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2009 Mar;18(3):349-58.

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Certain gases are directly linked and highly correlative of pains of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In some studies up to 80% of patients with IBS also had a positive hydrogen breath test, and in other studies methane was determined to be the causative gas highly correlative with IBS symptoms, both of which are treatable with antibiotics. ^{[1] [2] [3]} For example, the antibiotic Rifaximin (discussed further below) improved IBS symptoms in 33 to 92% of patients and killed intestinal bacteria in up to 84% of patients with IBS. Results were sustained for up to 10 weeks after the treatment ^[4] (with no other treatment added).

In a current phase 2 clinical trial, ^[5] the drug Lovastatin is being studied too because of its effect on methane-producing bacteria, which is perceived as the underlying cause of pain, bloating and even constipation of IBS.

The worst foods

What foods cause these bacteria to produce gas? Most predominately it is the complex carbohydrates. When unhealthy bacteria feed on starches they produce the gases hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, and the more smelly one — hydrogen sulfide. These complex or starchy carbohydrate foods include potatoes, corn, and gluten-containing wheat products (breads, cereals, and pastas).

I believe the other gluten containing grains contribute to IBS and belly gas just as much. These are barley, rye, spelt, kamut, and triticale. Be aware that almost half of American adults are gluten intolerant more or less, but most haven’t even made this connection to their illnesses yet. But the non-gluten grains are thought to cause much less gas. They are:

• Rice
• Quinoa
• Buckwheat
• Millet
• Amaranth
• Arrowroot
• Cassava

Simple sugars also contribute to the bacterial gas factory in your gut. So, if you are a “farter,” then think back on all the carbohydrates you recently ate. Contrast this with fats and proteins which cause bacteria to produce very little gas.

Fiber is another one to learn about. Dietary fiber is a complex carbohydrate that does not get digested or absorbed into your bloodstream from your small intestine, so it reaches your large intestine relatively intact. There your bacteria digest fiber (a.k.a. fermentation), which produces gas. Fiber is a double-edged sword; adding fiber to your diet may alleviate constipation but it can also increase gas production — especially if you have a bad bacterial flora.

Soluble fiber foods are barley, beans, nuts, oat bran, seeds, lentils and many fruits; insoluble fiber foods (do not dissolve/gel in water, but rather adds bulk to stool) are cellulose component of cabbage, corn bran, legumes, root vegetables, seeds, and wheat bran.

My guideline for any high fiber food if you have IBS is to start low, and go slow. You will need to be careful to soak your beans and grains, and steam or cook your veggies.

Other foods that worsen abdominal cramps and diarrhea of IBS are highly fried food, coffee/caffeine, or alcoholic beverages. Also, eating a huge meal can be a trigger.

Ways to clean up intestinal organisms that contribute to IBS

There are a few different ways to clean up intestinal organisms. Let me outline some options here. All of these would be useful together, not just one alone.

1. Change your diet: The best way to clean out gas-producing gut bacteria is to change the food you offer them (food you eat) so only the healthy ones want to live there. If you can first do a bowel cleanse with the over the counter Miralax (polyethylene glycol) at high dose, until you are passing liquid. This medicine increases the water content of your stool to cause diarrhea. Alternatively, start with colon hydrotherapy (search online for this service near you) to clean out your colon. Immediately after bowel cleansing, begin a whole foods diet and eliminate junk foods, highly refined sugar, and other simple carbohydrate-generating foods (i.e. breads, pastas, desserts, etc.). Cook most of your veggies if needed at first, but your body will love all that comes from nature more than what comes from packaged refined/processed food.
2. Use prebiotics and probiotics: prebiotics are foods that aid in healthy bacteria colonization. These include asparagus, bananas, Jerusalem artichokes, oatmeal, and legumes. Probiotics are the actual healthy bacteria themselves, and come in blends containing lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidus species. You can also buy prebiotics and probiotics online.
3. Prescription antibiotics: Metronidazole (Flagyl^®) is a low cost ($20), narrow-spectrum antibiotic that has been shown to kill off gut bacteria, reduce fermentation (gas production) and improve symptoms of IBS. ^[6] I typically start a patient on this along with instructions to begin probiotics at the tail end of this treatment, along with dietary instructions as described. Rifaximin (Xifaxan^®) is a new semisynthetic antibiotic that is poorly absorbed into your bloodstream, which is ideal for killing bacteria that hang out in your gut. It received FDA approval for IBS in May 2015, but is expensive ($200).
4. Relieve stress that worsens IBS. We can talk about relieving IBS without addressing the connection to stress. Lack of exercise and irregular eating habits are known to worsen IBS. Also, lack of sleep plays havoc with your stress hormone cortisol. That’s because lack of sleep and prolonged stress weaken your ability to feel well, taxing your feel good hormones serotonin and dopamine. So, if counseling and other stress reduction technique do not make a difference, consider natural or even prescription serotonin enhancers. Tricyclics or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and even serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are proven to provide symptom relief for IBS.

In my next article I’ll tell you about small bowel intestinal overgrowth (SIBO) and how treating this will also treat IBS, rosacea, fibromyalgia, and more.

To feeling good for optimal health,

Michael Cutler, M.D.
Easy Health Options

[1] Lin, HC (Aug 18, 2004). Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth: a framework for understanding irritable bowel syndrome. JAMA: 292 (7): 852–8
[2] Pimentel, Mark (2006). A new IBS solution : bacteria, the missing link in treating irritable bowel syndrome. Sherman Oaks, CA: Health Point Press. ISBN 0977435601.
[3] Reddymasu, SC; Sostarich, S; McCallum, RW (Feb 22, 2010). Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in irritable bowel syndrome: are there any predictors? BMC gastroenterology10: 23. PMID 20175924.
[4] Pimentel M. Review of rifaximin as treatment for SIBO and IBS. Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2009 Mar;18(3):349-58.
[5] http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/synthetic-biologics-initiates-second-syn-010-phase-2-clinical-trial-intended-to-treat-irritable-bowel-syndrome-with-constipation-ibs-c-300156246.html
[6] Dear KL, Elia M, Hunter JO. Do interventions which reduce colonic bacterial fermentation improve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome? Dig Dis Sci. 2005 Apr;50(4):758-66.

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What is IBS?

Irritable bowel syndrome is a disorder consisting of abdominal discomfort or pain and other symptoms such as bad breath, belching, bloating/distention, gas, diarrhea or constipation. It is estimated that 13 million adults suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation (IBS-C), ^[1] and less who have IBS with diarrhea. The latest term for IBS is “Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders” because symptoms can vary widely and they are not to the detectable tissue disease state as the inflammatory bowel diseases, Ulcerative Colitis (which I had for years) or Crohn’s Disease.

It is a frustrating disorder for both patient and doctor. For the doctor, there are no tests to prove the diagnosis as there is no detectable disease with imaging studies and endoscopy. Therefore, other intestinal conditions need to be excluded.

For the patient, medical treatments are only marginally effective. For example, the first of its kind prescription medication approved by the FDA in 2012 for IBS with constipation (IBS-C), Linzess^®, only works in approximately 20% of people. ^[2] A newer one approved by the FDA this year for IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D), Eluxadoline (Viberzi^®), works in just 13% of people. These drugs do not alter the natural history of the disease. In other words, they just mask the symptoms.

Therefore, it takes more than taking a pill to effectively treat these functional gastrointestinal disorders. It takes an understanding of the underlying causes of IBS which I’d like to explain here.

What causes IBS?

IBS has a few important contributing causes. The most predominate finding is gut “dysbiosis,” or an overgrowth of the unhealthy gut bacteria which produce methane and hydrogen gases. These bacteria and the gas they produce are thought to irritate the inside lining of the small and large intestine. When it irritates the nerves that control smooth muscle stimulation in the gut, called “peristalsis,” you can imagine that cramping, pains, and diarrhea or constipation result.

Yet there are other contributing factors besides just microbial dysbiosis that are important to know about. Traditionally IBS has been thought to be largely a brain-gut disorder, with many patients suffering gut symptoms along with psychological distress. Science now reveals there are other conditions inherent in IBS. We know that with most all patients suffering from IBS there are one or more of the following mechanisms ^[3] involved. I’ll address these in more detail in a follow up article, but let me just mention them here:

• Decreased intestinal barrier function (i.e. “leaky gut”) and the resultant immune dysregulation that triggers allergies and inflammation of chronic disease
• Intestinal lining hypersensitivity from neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine that were formerly thought to be just in the brain, but now we know are more predominate in the gut
• Bile acid malabsorption

Therefore, the most successful treatments will be to improve the intestinal organisms through diet, prebiotics and antibiotics. Then look at brain-to-gut and gut-to-brain neurotransmitters. ^[4]

In my next article I will discuss how diet affects IBS, the best ways to improve intestinal organisms and gut-to-brain neurotransmitters. You’ll be interested to also learn about how Small Bowel Intestinal Overgrowth (SIBO) contributes to not only IBS, but several other illnesses that I just recently learned about.

To feeling good for optimal health,

Michael Cutler, M.D.
Easy Health Options

[1] Brandt LJ, Prather CM, Quigley EM, et al. Systemic review on the management of chronic constipation in North America. Am J Gastroenterol. 2005;100(suppl 1):S5-S21.
[2]Sood R, Ford AC. Linaclotide: new mechanisms and new promise for treatment in constipation and irritable bowel syndrome. Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease. 2013;4(6):268-276. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3807764/
[3] ornby PJ. Drug discovery approaches to irritable bowel syndrome. Expert Opin Drug Discov. 2015;10(8):809-24.
[4]Talley NJ, Holtmann G, Walker MM.Therapeutic strategies for functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome based on pathophysiology. J Gastroenterol. 2015 Jun;50(6):601-13. Epub 2015 Apr 29.

The post IBS: Getting specific about non-specific pain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

One common gastrointestinal ailment is irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which can be a frustrating issue for both patients and physicians. IBS is less a distinct condition than a collection of sometimes contradictory symptoms, such as diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain and cramping – without evidence of a more serious diagnosis such as Crohn’s disease or leaky gut. The one unifying theme is irregular bowel movements which could be caused by many factors.

Regardless, because IBS is such a vague condition, treatment often requires a more generalized approach. In other words we need to focus our therapeutic strategy on overall gastrointestinal health.

Eliminate potential causes

Before we discuss things we can add to our diet to control IBS, let’s talk about something we might need to subtract — gluten. IBS shares a number of symptoms with gluten sensitivity, so it only makes sense to experiment with a gluten-free diet. In many cases, this may solve the problem rapidly, but at the very least it can rule out gluten as the cause.

Another problem which can aggravate IBS is stress. We’ve all heard the term “nervous stomach,” so it’s no surprise that anxiety can have a serious impact on the gastrointestinal tract. There are a variety of ways to reduce stress: meditation and mind-body exercises top the list. Mind-body therapies which simultaneously relax and support core health include yoga, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, mindful meditation and deep breathing, and others.

Support digestive health

Proper digestion relies on a process called peristalsis, the muscular contractions in the digestive system that move food along and assist nutrient absorption. Needless to say, if the process breaks down — moving too fast or too slow — food will not be digested properly and nutrition and bowel movements will suffer.

One way to support this natural movement is with minerals: magnesium, calcium and potassium in particular. Remember these minerals need to be kept in balance. Too much magnesium and potassium without enough calcium can lead to soft stools.

Another potential issue in IBS is an imbalance of digestive flora — the wide array of bacteria that play such a crucial role in digestion and overall health. A diet rich in probiotics (beneficial bacteria) and prebiotics (specific ingredients that nourish beneficial bacteria) can greatly relieve bowel issues. Recent research has also found a link between healthy levels of beneficial bacteria and stress reduction.

In people with IBS, digestive enzymes might not be working at peak efficiency. Supplementing with natural, plant-based digestive enzymes such as amylase, protease, lipase and others can help. You also need to make sure you have enough hydrochloric acid (HCl) with the enzymes — sometimes an extra HCl supplement is taken with enzyme supplements. For this reason, it’s important to avoid drinking water or other fluids while eating, as they can dilute enzymes and stomach acid needed for proper digestion. Drink ten or fifteen minutes before a meal, so the liquid is fully absorbed. Also, slow down, chew slowly and thoroughly and be a mindful eater. This will also help bolster overall digestive function by taking off some of the burden.

Warning: 7 myths about gluten that are secretly tearing you up inside

One approach to overall digestive health that can have an excellent impact on IBS is eating more fiber. This may seem counterintuitive to those suffering from diarrhea, as fiber is commonly thought to move digestion along. However, fiber’s function is more complex. It actually acts as a modulator for digestion and can improve both constipation and diarrhea.

Supplement wisely

There are a number of herbs and botanicals that improve digestive health and have proven useful for patients with IBS. In my clinical practice, I recommend a formula which contains the following ingredients:

• Pomegranate Seed strengthens digestive activity by improving intestinal movement and gastric secretions and providing antioxidants.
• Pepper Fruit improves circulation, including digestive circulation. The ingredient piperine may also enhance nutrient absorption.
• Cassia Bark and Chinese Cardamom Fruit are warming herbs that support numerous aspects of digestion.
• Tangerine Fruit alleviates cramping and gas.
• Ginger Root is used as an anti-flatulent, laxative and antacid. Research shows ginger root supports intestinal movement and fights nausea.
• Sacred Lotus Seed has been used in Asia for thousands of years, primarily for abdominal cramps, loose stools and other gastrointestinal issues.

Remember, IBS is an indistinct condition, so treatment may require several combined approaches. With the possible exception of gluten sensitivity, it’s often more than one issue that’s causing the condition, so it may take more than one tactic to solve it. The good news is that the natural solutions recommended here can address multiple aspects of digestive, as well as overall health. With a bit of mindfulness, IBS can be alleviated using simple solutions which can offer long lasting relief and support core vitality and wellness in the process.

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But if you have IBS, it’s at the top of your mind even if you aren’t comfortable mentioning it to a health advisor or practitioner.

So let’s talk about it here, because you need to know that there are natural remedies that can relieve IBS with no side effects and give you a lot of peace of mind.

IBS affects both men and women, although the experts have debated whether there are true gender differences in the disease. Hormones seem to play a role in women but not in men. Women in western countries appear more likely than men to have the disease and three times more likely to seek medical help. By contrast, men in eastern countries are four times more likely than women to see a doctor for symptoms.

Although there are a number of medications that can be used to help relieve symptoms, natural remedies are becoming increasingly more popular, especially since drugs are associated with side effects and do not address the underlying cause of the disease.

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Irritable bowel syndrome is a gastrointestinal condition that affects approximately 10 to 15 percent of adults. According to the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, irritable bowel syndrome is second only to the common cold when it comes to a reason for missing work.

Having irritable bowel syndrome typically means experiencing an urgent need to use the bathroom, often with little warning. This fact, along with the pain, diarrhea, constipation, spastic contractions of the colon, and bloating make it an illness that can significantly affect quality of life, even though it is not a life-threatening condition.

Fortunately, you can choose from several different natural remedies that can be helpful in managing this disease. The other good news is that these options are also beneficial for overall health.

Restore your biotic balance. Among the more common natural remedies for irritable bowel syndrome is probiotics, or beneficial bacteria. That’s because an imbalance between good and bad bacteria in your gut—also known as dysbiosis—can lead to irritable bowel syndrome. Nurturing your body and intestinal tract with probiotics can restore balance and help manage the disease.

Since your intestinal tract is ground zero for this disease, you need to cultivate a healthful environment every day, and that means plenty of probiotics. These good bacteria can be found in fermented foods, such as yogurt, kefir, and sauerkraut, and especially in a high-quality probiotic supplement.

For best results, choose a probiotic supplement that contains at least five but preferably more strains of beneficial bacteria. The most commonly used organisms are species from Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. A diet low in sugar and processed foods and high in natural, whole foods will help support good bacteria in the gut and the benefits of the probiotics.

In addition to probiotics, you can face the challenge of irritable bowel syndrome with a number of other natural remedies.

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Go gluten free. Eliminating gluten from your diet can relieve your symptoms rather quickly if you are sensitive to or intolerance of this protein. Gluten is found not only in wheat but in barley, couscous, durum, einkorn, farina, kamut, matzo, oats, rye, semolina, spelt, and triticale. Once you stop eating foods that contain gluten, you should experience a significant improvement within 7 to 14 days.

So what can you eat? This list is longer than the elimination one! It includes amaranth, arrowroot, buckwheat (kasha), cassava, corn, flax, millet, quinoa, rice, sorghum, tapioca, and teff. You also can try gluten-free flours made from beans, coconut, and nuts.

Pass on processed foods. Refined, processed foods contain countless numbers of artificial and potentially harmful ingredients that could have a negative impact on your gut. Choose whole, fresh, and/or minimally processed foods and organic whenever possible.

Control stress. Living with irritable bowel syndrome can be a stressful experience, and at the same time, unmanaged emotions can exacerbate the symptoms. Explore ways to control your stress, such as yoga, guided visualization, breathing exercises, meditation, artistic endeavors, or dance. The authors of a new study found that use of relaxation response/mind-body intervention by adults with irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease resulted in improvement in anxiety, pain, and other disease symptoms as well as an impact on inflammatory molecules.

Conduct parasite patrol. Ask your physician to check your stool for parasites. The presence of parasites can contribute to and exacerbate irritable bowel syndrome. In a new review, parasites that may have a role include Blastocystic hominis, Giardia spp, Entamoeba histolytica, Dientamoeba fragilis, and Trichinella spp.

Listen to your body. Everyone has a different genetic makeup, biochemistry, and metabolic rhythm, so it’s important for your eating habits to be in synch with these factors as much as possible. When that happens, you are much less likely to experience symptoms of irritable bowel. You may need to keep a diary of your meal breakdown (percentage of protein, fat, and carbs) and whether you feel better on a high-protein, high-fat, low-carb diet or a low-fat, low-protein, high-carb approach (with most carbs coming from vegetables). In all cases, go organic when you can – as much as your budget allows.

Feast on fiber. You can use fiber to help control both diarrhea and constipation. Although dietary fiber from whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes are preferred, you may need to take a fiber supplement to enhance your efforts. One type of fiber that assists with both constipation and diarrhea is psyllium. Choose organic psyllium to prevent any possible irritation from pesticides or chemical residues. Ground organic flax seed (2 to 3 tablespoons daily) can be helpful as well, plus it provides healthful omega-3 fatty acids, which help fight inflammation.

Peppermint oil. A natural antispasmodic to consider is peppermint oil, which blocks calcium channels, leading to relaxation of the gastrointestinal smooth muscles. Several studies have indicated that peppermint oil can offer short-term relief, although not much is known about long-term use. A new study from the University of South Alabama, Mobile, reported good results from use of a slow-release peppermint oil formula. The authors credit their success to a “unique formulation of ultra-purified peppermint oil” and a dosing delivery system that differs from other peppermint oil products on the market.

Don’t let the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome get your down. Consider these natural remedies and discuss them with a knowledgeable healthcare provider to help you make a choice.

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But if you’re dealing with these symptoms on a regular basis, it could be a sign of a gut disorder…

And if after tests, your doctor can’t find a specific cause or food allergy, the odds are good that your chronically cranky gut is the result of irritable bowel syndrome.

Irritable bowel syndrome is fairly common… but it’s extremely uncomfortable — and stressful — and can take over your life, leaving you afraid to wander far from any bathroom.

It’s also a serious red flag that you’re not digesting your food properly — that means you’re not absorbing the critical nutrients you need to stay healthy.

But the latest research shows there is one diet in particular that can banish your IBS symptoms, restore your gut health and help you live a normal life again…

The low FODMAP diet

FODMAP is an acronym that stands for Fermentable Oligo-Di-Monosaccharides and Polyols.

It’s a mouthful, but it’s basically the more scientific name for different carbohydrates (sugars) found in foods — specifically fructose, lactose, fructans, galactans and polyols.

The goal of the diet is to decrease your intake of foods that are high in these compounds because they are difficult for your body to digest. When you eat a lot of them, they end up sticking around in your gut too long and fermenting… which does not make your stomach very happy.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System found that 50 percent of people with IBS who followed a low FODMAP diet for six weeks experienced a significant improvement in their symptoms.

And, interestingly enough, only 20 percent of those in a control group that followed a common sense “healthy” diet that involved reducing portions and eliminating common IBS triggers like caffeine and alcohol experienced an improvement.

IBS sufferers following the low FODMAP diet were also more likely to report a major improvement in their quality of life than those in the control group following a common sense “healthy” diet: 61 percent versus 27 percent.

How to eat FODMAP

So it seems the low FODMAP diet may really have an advantage over other “healthy” diets when it comes to managing chronic gut issues like IBS.

But, be warned: the low FODMAP diet can seem a bit complicated at first. Here’s quick rundown of some high FODMAP foods you may have to avoid:

• High fructose corn syrup
• Dairy items that are high in lactose like milk, ice cream, buttermilk, soft cheeses and sour cream.
• Grains that contain gluten like wheat, barley and rye
• Certain fruits like apples, mangoes, peaches, pears and plums.
• A handful of vegetables like artichokes, cauliflower, mushrooms and sugar snap peas

Now, if you only suffer from an occasional bout of stomach trouble, the low FODMAP diet is probably too strict and complex for you. But if your stomach complaints are chronic, it could be the key to restoring your stomach health. Here’s a more extensive description of the low FODMAP diet requirements so you can decide for yourself whether it’s the stomach solution you’ve been looking for.

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