Guest blogger Dr. Turbide shares some expertise with us on Crohn's disease and other gastrointestinal disorders. Dr. Christian Turbide is a gastrointerologist working in Canada. He is a fellow health blogger with a passion for health like my own. I'm happy to give Dr. Turbide an opportunity to share with my readers.
As a practicing gastroenterologist, I see people who suffer from Crohn’s disease on a weekly, if not daily, basis. It is very refreshing to witness someone like Daniel guide, educate and empower people to understand and manage their own health.
Unfortunately, you won't get the valuable information Daniel provided at your doctor's office. In four years of med school, I received a total of 45 minutes of education on nutrition. Food wasseen as filler for your tummy, not as fuel for your body. I’ve witnessed this disconnected logic even recently:
- cookies, muffins and pastries served during the break at a major digestive diseaseconference, attended by about 2,500 of the top digestive disease specialists in the world
- a bagel featured in the food guide as an acceptable carbohydrate
- a world renowned Crohn's disease specialist tells us during a presentation that countriesadopting a refined carbohydrate diet are experiencing a rise in Crohn's disease rates.Yet at the end of his talk, when this world renowned specialist spoke about treatment,nutrition wasn’t part of the equation. Wait a minute here... you just said that refined carbs are associated with the rise in Crohn's yet diet isn’t part of the treatment algorithm?
“With identical twins, if one person has Crohn's, the likelihood of the other twin developing
Crohn’s is around 50 percent,” says Josh Korzenik, MD, co-director of the Crohn's and Colitis
Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston . This means that two people who share the
same genetic code have a 50/50 chance of developing this disease. The other 50 percent comes
from external forces, things such as whether or not we smoke, drink alcohol, exercise or eat
properly.
Another point that Daniel and I agree on is the health benefit of probiotics.
If you were breastfed, your gut has more good - and less bad - bacteria. Interestingly, the chances of developing Crohn's are lower in adults who were breastfed as infants. Probiotics are similar to the good bacteria found in, you guessed it, the human gut. It stands to reason that takingprobiotics could reduce your chances of developing Crohn’s.
Other things you can do to lower your chances of getting the disease or lessen it's impact are to
follow Daniel's diet recommendations: don't smoke, exercise regularly and take supplements thathave been shown to decrease inflammation such as Curcumin, Chlorella, Vitamin D and Omega-3. Remember that vitamin D is absorbed with fat so take it at the same time as with your Omega-3. Some patients tell me that they hate the fish oil taste if they burp up the Omega-3. I wouldsuggest buying the Omega-3 oil that has either a lemon or orange flavor. Read the label first to make sure that it has not been sweetened.
Thanks to Daniel sharing his knowledge and insights, and offering me this opportunity to
applaud his efforts.
Visit Dr. Turbide's Blog:
