How to ease the agonies of IBS
How to ease the agonies of IBSby DR JOHN BRIFFA, Daily Mail
Thought to affect at least 10 per cent of the population, and 30 per cent of elderly people, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is today’s most common digestive disorder.
Last week, research was published showing that peppermint oil a folk remedy for digestive complaints could be effective in treating IBS in children.
In fact, peppermint oil is just one of a host of natural approaches which can be very effective in restoring health to the digestive tract.
IBS, it seems, is often triggered by specific foods causing adverse reactions in the lining of the gut which provoke symptoms such as bloating and pain.
In one study, published in 1994, 113 people with IBS were put on a diet which excluded offending foods.
Abdominal bloating was relieved in 88 per cent, colic in 90 per cent, diarrhoea in 85 per cent and constipation in 65 per cent.
While any food can trigger IBS, the most common offenders are wheat, milk, cheese, citrus fruits and coffee.
I see wheat as perhaps the most problematic food of all, and often find that the elimination of this foodstuff alone leads to considerable relief from symptoms.
It is perhaps sensitivity to wheat which explains why a high fibre diet often makes IBS sufferers worse.
People prescribed a high fibre diet often gravitate to high bran breakfast cereals and wholemeal bread, both of which are based on wheat.
While I agree that a high fibre diet is a good thing, I generally advise that people get their fibre from non wheat sources such as oats, beans, pulses, fruits and vegetables.
Rye bread and crackers, and [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] cereals made from corn, rice or oats make good alternatives to standard wheat based foods.
It is poorly digested food leaking into the gut wall or bloodstream which seems to be at the root of many food related sensitivities.
With many individuals eating wheat several times every day, it is thought that in time the enzymes responsible for digesting wheat can exhaust, reducing the capacity to digest wheat properly.
Although there are many different ways of identifying individual food sensitivities, including practitioner based [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] approaches such as blood testing and kinesiology, it is often [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] possible to make an accurate self assessment with something known as the ‘elimination diet’.
This technique starts with the elimination of all the likely food triggers from the diet.
Apart from [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] wheat (bread, pasta, pastry, pizza, biscuits, cakes, wheat based breakfast cereals, wheat crackers, breaded food, battered food and anything containing flour), other foods that should be avoided include milk, cheese and yoghurt.
With the elimination of trigger foods, IBS symptoms usually abate within a week or two. Individual foods can then be added back into the diet, one every two or three days, and a record kept of those that provoke symptoms.
Another factor which often seems to cause problems in IBS is excessive fermentation in the gut.
This problem is frequently caused by the overgrowth of yeast organisms in the gut, particularly candida albicans.
While many different factors may cause candida overgrowth, one of the most important is the use of antibiotics.
Once in the gut, antibiotics can kill significant quantities of [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] the healthy bacteria which reside in the gut.
These healthy bacteria perform many roles, including keeping potentially unhealthy organisms in check.
When quantities of these bacteria are lost, organisms such as candida get a chance to proliferate. The excessive fermentation this causes often manifests as bloating and wind.
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