How to tackle Crohn's Disease without the help of drugs
Vanny
How to tackle Crohn's Disease without the help of drugs
By Barney Calman
Last updated at 9:33 PM on 11th October 2008
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When John Maffioli first fell ill at 19, he put it down to the excesses of
his life as a university student. But after six months of acute stomach
cramps he had lost almost two stone and was suffering extreme fatigue.
He was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, where the body's immune system
attacks the digestive tract, causing damage and inflammation.
And he feared the debilitating gut condition would mean a lifetime of
medication and even surgery, with an increased risk of cancer.
John Maffioli has taken part in a health trial to tackle his Crohn's Disease
Remarkably, eight years after his diagnosis, John, who is one of 60,000
Crohn's sufferers in the UK, is free of symptoms - yet has never had a
single drug treatment.
He has run the New York Marathon, regularly plays club rugby, and achieved
this medical breakthrough thanks to a simple diet.
John, a 28-year-old accountant, is one of about 1,000 patients who have
taken part in a continuing medical trial at Addenbrooke's Hospital,
Cambridge.
Problems had started during his first year studying geography at Nottingham.
'I was experiencing terrible stomach cramps, not unlike food poisoning, and
on a bad day going to the toilet up to ten times.
'When I started university I was 12st,' he says. 'But by my second year I
weighed around 10st, and looked pretty skinny at 5ft 8in. I was pale, tired
all the time and had dark circles under my eyes.'
John was diagnosed with Crohn's disease after a colonoscopy and blood tests.
The illness most commonly begins between the ages of 15 and 25.
Periods of remission do occur but flare-ups produce stomach cramps, nausea
and severe digestive problems.
The first line of defence for most adult sufferers is usually powerful
antibiotics to battle infection, drugs which reduce inflammation, and
immune-suppressant medication.
These are drugs which carry a host of side effects such as weight gain, mood
disorders, serious infections and an increased risk of cancer of the lymph
glands.
But at Addenbrooke's Hospital, gastroenterologist Professor John Hunter and
his team identify foods that act as a 'trigger' for symptoms, eliminate them
from a patient's diet and 'switch off' the disease.
Now 90 per cent of his patients are symptom-free and 56 per cent can resume
a normal diet after five years.
During the first phase of treatment, patients consume only specially
formulated drinks.
'They contain all the nutrients a patient needs, already broken down into
their most simple constituent elements so the body does not have to do any
work digesting them,' explains Professor Hunter.
'By taking the gut out of action, we effectively switch off the disease.
After two to three weeks, 90 per cent of patients find their symptoms have
disappeared.'
End game: John's recovery from Crohn's meant he could return to playing club
rugby
John had to drink eight cartons a day for two weeks.
'After a week I started to feel normal again,' he says. ' People noticed I
had colour in my face and I felt well enough to go to the gym.'
Patients are given a list of 'stable' low fibre, low fat foods that don't
trigger symptoms. 'We know certain foods are easy to digest and don't
aggravate the disease,' Professor Hunter says.
'They can eat lean meat and poultry, and lean fish like tuna. Carrots,
potatoes and cucumber are fine but fibrous vegetables like cabbage and
celery are not.
'Cheese and yogurts are not allowed because of the high fat content. Gluten,
the protein found in wheat, barley and rye, is particularly hard to digest,
so bread and pasta are excluded. Caffeine, citrus fruits and, oddly, onions
are also forbidden.
He adds: 'After two weeks we introduce other foods, one by one, for four
days each, to find out exactly which ones are safe to eat.' John found that
alcohol, chocolate, crisps and peas triggered his symptoms. Wheat caused
problems but rye and barley did not.
'The whole process took two months and by the end I had a list of everything
I have to avoid,' says John. 'I've stuck to it and I've been symptom-free
for the past seven years.'
Professor Hunter first revealed his findings 20 years ago, and has been
published in highly respected medical publications such as The Lancet and
the British Medical Journal. However, his methods remain somewhat 'fringe'.
One consultant gastroenterologist at a major London teaching hospital, who
wished to remain anonymous, explains: 'Exclusion diets are not easy for the
patient or supervising doctors; it's much easier to just hand out a pill.
'And before small scale studies such as this can be widely adopted they must
undergo rigorous large-scale clinical trials, which is an expensive process.
Most are funded by drug firms which ultimately profit from the development
of a new medication.
'But there is no profit to be made from explaining how to control diet, so
trials receive no funding and no one ever hears about the treatment, even if
it is more effective.'
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), which approves all
treatments offered by NHS doctors, has produced detailed guidelines for the
use of various drug treatments for Crohn's disease.
There are, however, no comparable guidelines for dietary approaches.
A NICE spokesman said: 'The Department of Health is responsible for
referring topics to NICE. They have not asked us to look at this.'
And the DH claimed it was 'the responsibility of local NHS to commission
services for Crohn's disease.'
In the meantime, thousands of patients are left in the dark about the
success of dietary management for Crohn's.
Professor Hunter admits it's not any 'easy option' - 25 per cent of his
patients 'drop out', finding the lifestyle changes too much to commit to.
Yet John Maffioli believes that every Crohn's patient should try dietary
methods before resorting to drug treatment.
'It's rigid and I'd be lying if I said it hasn't got me down occasionally,'
says John, who lives in Old Welwyn, Hertfordshire, with his wife Laura, 29,
also an accountant.
'When the rugby team are sinking pints after a match I have to stick to Diet
Coke. There have been sacrifices, but they are worth it.'
. To find out more visit www.crohns.org.uk.
news.chi.sbcglobal.net
US is no better. Diet is extremely important in the illness and the
emptier the stomach the better, except nutrition is extremely important amd
must be gotten. A while back there was a book discussed quite often on
diet, one by Elaine Gottschall (don't know if the name is right). Only
thing not covered is Crohns and ulcerative colitis is that it is also an
illness not only of the digestive system, which was called Regional
Ilelitis. It is an illness that can attack any part of the body in any way,
eyes, ears. feet. heart, mental and mood disabilitiies.
So I repeat it is illness of the mind triggered by someone on a medical
stimulant and sent by the mind to a friend or relative and follows the
chronie where ever he may roam as long as the stimulant and mind are
there. Anti-depressants being so vastly used has brought this illness to
the forefront so banning them would be a good start. Of course there is
still marijuana, cocaine etc.
True tranquillizers like Valium are a good stress reducer if taken as a
preventative of crohns (once you know there is crohns afoot) . The FDA
however knows from nothing and controls the medication and gives us the
anti-depressants to make one ill with crohns.
Talk about getting the situation backwards. What is additction compared to
the life of a person, be sides that they are not as addictive as purported.
I would love to hear from Prof. Hunter by email at Advoc...@aol.com
I believe some have benefitted from my theory, but will not discuss it. I
have sent my theory to these persons and they are well and able to work.
What is ironic is, I can get others well, but I suffer from drug addicts
that seem to find me and never let go although I try to avoid them, which is
not always possible as the mind is the connection. So here is the crazy
Gail with the crazy unbelievable theory, who knows people do benefit from
anti-depressants, it is the innocent friends or relatives that bear the
manmade crohns and ulcerative colitis disease.
Ideally, anti-depressants should be banned then crohns cannot be spread as
virulently as it is now but that is like asking for the moon from the
pharmaceuticals.
Gail Michael
"Vanny" <Vanny...@antispam.com> wrote in message
news:gcsqg3$co7$1...@newsreader2.netcologne.de...
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1076594/How-tackle-Crohns-Disease-help-drugs.html
>
>
>
news.chi.sbcglobal.net
jay
> skinny
> pale, tired all the time and had dark circles under my eyes.
> eliminate them from a patient's diet and 'switch off' the disease.
> During the first phase of treatment,
> patients consume only specially formulated drinks.
> Carrots, potatoes and cucumber are fine
> but fibrous vegetables like cabbage and celery are not.
> Caffeine, citrus fruits and, oddly, onions are also forbidden.
Dioxin exposure can also result in similar food sensativities.
anon
approach? I've never heard about it being prescribed in the United
States--perhaps there are doctors here who prescribe it though. Any personal
testimonies on this?
"Vanny" <Vanny...@antispam.com> wrote in message
news:gcsqg3$co7$1...@newsreader2.netcologne.de...
jay
> States--perhaps there are doctors here who prescribe it though.
A number of pubmed abstracts, like the following, indicate elemental
diet can alleviate/prevent flare ups.
Br Med J. 1980 Nov 1;
Elemental diets in treatment of acute Crohn's disease.
Twenty-seven patients with 32 acute exacerbations of Crohn's disease
were treated for four weeks with an elemental diet. At the end of
treatment 29 of the exacerbations had remitted both clinically and
biochemically. After six months six patients had relapsed. These
findings suggest that the elemental diet is effective in treating
acute Crohn's disease, but the reasons are not clear. The diet may be
effective because it provides nutritional support, is hypoallergenic,
acts as a medical bypass from the affected area, or alters bowel
flora. The patient's general wellbeing is improved by the supply of
adequate energy and essential foodstuffs in a form easily available
without further digestion and given in a safe, simple, non-toxic way.
PMID: 7427623
zumone2002
Vanny wrote:
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1076594/How-tackle-Crohns-Disease-help-drugs.html
>
> How to tackle Crohn's Disease without the help of drugs
> By Barney Calman
> But at Addenbrooke's Hospital, gastroenterologist Professor John Hunter and
> his team identify foods that act as a 'trigger' for symptoms, eliminate them
> from a patient's diet and 'switch off' the disease.
> Now 90 per cent of his patients are symptom-free and 56 per cent can resume
> a normal diet after five years.
> During the first phase of treatment, patients consume only specially
> formulated drinks.
> 'They contain all the nutrients a patient needs, already broken down into
> their most simple constituent elements so the body does not have to do any
> work digesting them,' explains Professor Hunter.
> 'By taking the gut out of action, we effectively switch off the disease.
> After two to three weeks, 90 per cent of patients find their symptoms have
> disappeared.'
YMMV.
A few years back I was trying diet modification to help my CD. I
tried a two or three versions of an elimination diet and they all came
back with two results – nothing bothered me or everything bothered
me :-( For instance a food that was okay in week one might cause
problems in week two.
I tried a liquid diet (the surgery stuff like Ensure here in the USA)
and found the old research supporting elemental diets. So I got a few
cases and tried it. During the first day I got much worse, well
outside my usual range of symptoms. I kept going for a second day but
got no better.
To make things stranger, I switched back to the liquid diet and I got
better within 30 minutes. Which made no sense to me or my doctors.
> He adds: 'After two weeks we introduce other foods, one by one, for four
> days each, to find out exactly which ones are safe to eat.' John found that
> alcohol, chocolate, crisps and peas triggered his symptoms. Wheat caused
> problems but rye and barley did not.
>'The whole process took two months and by the end I had a list of everything
> I have to avoid,' says John.
Two months = 8 weeks. 2 weeks for the elemental diet leaves 6 weeks
or 42 days. Testing each food for 4 days means they tested 10 and a
half foods. You can only test the most common food allergens (e.g
Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Tree nuts, Fish, Shellfish, Soy, Wheat, Yeast)
and one or two more.
> One consultant gastroenterologist at a major London teaching hospital, who
> wished to remain anonymous, explains: 'Exclusion diets are not easy for the
> patient or supervising doctors; it's much easier to just hand out a pill.
From what I've heard, a lot of CD patients would love the chance to
get off the medications, since the ones that work have serious risks
associated with them.
But it is hard to start, I got my elemental diet cases from a
hospital, they had them left over because most people couldn't stand
the taste. Even with the “flavor” packets. Me, I tired in plain and
didn't have any trouble with it so never tried the flavor packets.
And hard to continue, if you test every new food, you'll be testing
for a long time, not just 6 weeks.
There is a blood test available which test multiple foods per test
but there doubt about how well they work. See “IgG Food Allergy
Testing by ELISA/EIA What Do They Really Tell Us?” (http://
www.tldp.com/issue/174/IgG%20Food%20Allergy.html) .
> 'And before small scale studies such as this can be widely adopted they must
> undergo rigorous large-scale clinical trials, which is an expensive process.
> Most are funded by drug firms which ultimately profit from the development
> of a new medication.
> 'But there is no profit to be made from explaining how to control diet, so
> trials receive no funding and no one ever hears about the treatment, even if
> it is more effective.'
Sure, pick on the pharmaceutical companies, they're an easy target.
But don't mention how difficult it is to study diet, especially when
you can't control what the study patients eat. There is non drug
company money available for research, where do you think the studies
on elemental diet came from?
This article is pretty lame. For a “fringe” theory, it sure get
published a lot. PubMed searching for (Crohn's “elemental diet”) gets
156 hits, the first 20 are from February 2003 to present. I see at
least one meta analysis and wouldn't be surprised if some of the
papers dovetailed or are reviews.
I'm surprised the author didn't mention the Specific Carbohydrate
Diet. At its base, it is an elimination diet.
--
Luke
jay
The following ingredients in Ensure can be irritating: caseinate, soy
protein isolate, whey protein concentrate, artificial flavors and soy
lecithin. Compare with Elecare which only has free-form amino acids.
zumone2002
jay wrote:
> > �... Ensure ...
>
> The following ingredients in Ensure can be irritating: caseinate, soy
> protein isolate, whey protein concentrate, artificial flavors and soy
> lecithin. Compare with Elecare which only has free-form amino acids.
Yes, which is why I was surprised that I did better on it than on an
elemental diet product.
--
Luke
Paul
(LOw Fat, Fibre Limited EXclusion diet). I tried it and had limited
success for a short period. The hardest part being the quantity of
liquid diet I had to consume as I am a big person. If any one wants a
copy of the diet I have it as a pdf and can email it to you. Just drop
me a mail at dinktinyatyahoo.com.
Paul
Vanny
I agree with you.
This approach has been used by the Japanese for years, so Prof. Hunter and
his team are by no means pioneers in the subject. In the Japanese studies,
as soon as the patients felt better and started to introduce more normal
foods back into the diet the Crohn's activity increased again and they had
to fall back on medication. As it is impossible to keep a patient on
long-term oral liquid diet, which does not contain all dietary requirements
(flavonoids and other as yet unidentified elements missing) as it leads to
atrophy of the gut vili and eventually possible greater dysfunction than
with the Crohn's so this method is only suitable for short term relief
especially in children who cannot cope, from the growth and development
perspective, with the Crohn's anorexia and resulting stunted growth.
I think that the journalist has forgotten to mention the need for medication
and I posted the article to alert everyone to the possibility that their
friends and families might pick up on this research and think that Crohn's
is a simple food intolerance issue.
On one hand, I was pleased to see a national albeit tabloid newspaper
dealing with the issue, on the other hand I was not pleased about the
simplified presentation of the disease. The latter is most likely the reason
why it has been widely disseminated - it is easy to understand from the
layperson's point of view, but I agree with you that it is extremely flawed
in its presentation.
Vanny
"zumone2002" <zumon...@yahoo.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
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