368 Irritable Bowel Syndrome [2 May 2016]

April was IBS Awareness Month, a topic I have been neglecting for a while. Better late than never!

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a chronic disorder of the colon (large intestine). Symptoms include abdominal pain, bloating, gas, diarrhea and constipation. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) such as Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease involves inflammation and is more serious (which I will discuss another time).

There are many possible causes of IBS. A GI tract infection (“food poisoning”) can trigger IBS. Severe stress can also trigger it or make it worse. Antibiotics can kill off the good gut bacteria allowing pathogens (including the yeast Candida albicans) to flourish.

There are several key components to dealing with IBS.
• Reduce stress.
• Temporarily avoid foods to which you may have a sensitivity – dairy, cereal grains, and caffeine.
• Chew your food thoroughly and take digestive enzymes.
• Reduce sugar, fatty foods and processed meats. Temporarily eliminate cruciferous vegetables and onions and garlic which are high in sulfur and could trigger IBS.
• Take a good multi-strain probiotic. Eat cultured vegetables like sauerkraut and kimchi. Better yet make your own (see #326).
• Add fiber to improve elimination and feed the beneficial intestinal flora.
• Ensure you are drinking enough water.
• Give your gut a treat with soothing herbs like marshmallow root, slippery elm, fenugreek, skullcap, peppermint and fennel.
• Supplement with the amino acid L-Glutamine and the monosaccharide N-Acetyl-D-Glucosamine (NAG), both needed for healing the gut lining.

I have several formulas developed specifically for helping with IBS. A shelf-stable probiotic with L-glutamine is a convenient way to get both those nutrients. Another company has several supplement formulas for IBS – a combination of 26 herbs to soothe and support the colon; a formula with glutamine, NAG, and a few more herbs, to help the colon heal; and a line of high potency probiotics.

These tips and supplements should go far in relieving the symptoms of IBS and healing the gut.

Sources
Wikipedia IBS
Wikipedia NAG
Mayo Clinic IBS Definition
Naka ProPB7
Renew Life: IBS Tips
Renew Life IntestiNew
Renew Life Intestinal Bowel Support
Watson, Brenda ND, 2002, Renew Your Life – Improved Digestion and Detoxification

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

293 Chew Your Food [10 Nov 2014]

Remember your mother telling you to chew your food? She was right, but probably didn’t know all the reasons for doing so.

We learned in school about amylase – the enzyme in our saliva that starts the digestion of starch. Chew an unsalted cracker for a few minutes and it will start to taste sweet as the starch breaks down into sugars (salt masks the sweet taste so it’s harder to notice with salted crackers).

Thoroughly chewing your vegetables mechanically breaks down the cell walls making the nutrients inside available for your digestive processes to work on. So you get more nutrients from the same amount of food.

Another reason is to convert nitrates from vegetables to nitrites which are in turn converted in the body to nitric oxide (NO) which works to dilate arteries and lower blood pressure. The conversion to nitrites in the mouth occurs when a certain bacteria which lives on our tongue and in our saliva is mixed with the nitrates in our plant food. Frequent use of antibacterial mouthwash, by the way, interferes with this process, lowering arterial NO levels and raising blood pressure. (See my recent columns #281 on August 18 and #288 October 6 for more on the importance of our microbiome, and #180 & 181 on Nitric Oxide in September 2012.)

Chewing raw cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage) mixes two compounds – glucoraphanin and an enzyme myrosinase – to form sulforaphane, a powerful antioxidant with anticancer and antimicrobial properties. I wrote about the health benefits of eating raw broccoli in #184 (24 Sept 2012); this is another benefit.

Juicing your vegetables or making smoothies mimics the action of chewing, but does it much more thoroughly. It’s still important to chew your juice to mix in the saliva. Someone once advised “Chew your drinks (to mix in saliva) and drink your foods (by chewing them until they are liquid)”.

Source: Why You Should Chew Your Food Well (And Stop Using Mouthwash) by Dr. Joel Kahn, www.mindbodygreen.com, 29 October 2014.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.