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Study Reveals Health Benefits of Whole-Grain Diet – Sci-News.com
A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that substituting whole grains for refined grains increases calorie loss by reducing calories retained during digestion and speeding up metabolism.
J Philip Karl et al quantify benefits of a whole-grain diet. Image credit: Tofs.
Grains are a major food group that includes wheat, rice, oats and barley products.
Whole grains include the outer nutritious layer of grains and are found in products including whole-wheat flour, oatmeal and brown rice.
Refined grains are starches that have been processed and broken down into a finer texture, primarily to increase shelf life. This process, known as milling, drains the starch of dietary fiber, iron and many forms of the vitamin B.
Through an enrichment process, iron and B-vitamins can be added back to the refined grains, but the fiber generally is not. White flour, white bread and white rice are examples of refined grains.
Several studies have suggested health benefits of whole grains and high dietary fiber intake, including for glycemic control and insulin sensitivity.
There has been controversy, however, about whether whole grains and fiber are beneficial for weight regulation, partially because there hasnt been data from controlled metabolic studies.
The new study, led by Dr. Phil Karl of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine and Tufts University, provided food to participants for eight weeks and may help explain how whole grain consumption is beneficial for weight management.
This study helps to quantify how whole grains and fiber work to benefit weight management, and lend credibility to previously reported associations between increased whole grains and fiber consumption, lower body weight and better health, Dr. Karl explained.
People who ate a diet with whole grains lost close to an extra 100 calories per day due to a combination of increased resting metabolic rate and greater fecal losses. This is compared to people who ate refined grains without much fiber.
We provided all food to ensure that the composition of the diets differed only in grain source, said Dr. Susan Roberts, director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and the senior author on the study.
The extra calories lost by those who ate whole grains was equivalent of a brisk 30 min walk or enjoying an extra small cookie every day in terms of its impact.
The researchers conducted an eight-week randomized single-blind comparative study with 81 men and women between the ages of 40 and 65.
In the first two weeks, all participants ate the same type of food, and individual calorie needs were determined.
After two weeks, the participants were randomly assigned to eat a diet that included either whole grains or refined grains.
The whole-grain diet and the refined-grain diet differed mostly in grain and fiber content the energy, macronutrient composition, type of food, and meal structure were similar.
The participants were asked to consume all the food provided and nothing else, return the food they had not eaten, and continue with their usual physical activity.
The purpose of this dietary control was to study the effect of whole grains compared to refined grains on resting metabolic rate and fecal energy losses, as well as feelings of hunger and fullness.
Throughout the eight weeks, the authors measured weight, metabolic rate, blood glucose, fecal calories, hunger and fullness.
At the end of the study, those who ate whole grains had an increase in resting metabolic rate and fecal energy losses compared to those who ate refined grains.
The extra fecal energy losses were not due to the extra fiber itself but from the effect the fiber had on the digestibility of other food calories.
The scientists caution that the effects of a whole-grain diet on resting metabolic rate were sensitive to dietary adherence, so cautious interpretation is warranted.
Based on previous research and current study measurements, however, they believe that the calorie loss was not due exclusively to the digestion of extra fiber intake.
They also note that commercially-available products using whole grain flour were used in the study and hypothesize that using foods with whole grain kernels might elicit a more pronounced benefit. Hunger, fullness and diet satisfaction were not statistically different between diets.
The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans from the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the USDA recommends that Americans replace refined grains with whole grains.
The recommended daily allowance of whole grains is a minimum of 3 ounces of whole grains for women and 4 ounces for men. This is the equivalent to consuming 1.5-2 cups of brown rice or oatmeal each day.
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J Philip Karl et al. Substituting whole grains for refined grains in a 6-wk randomized trial favorably affects energy-balance metrics in healthy men and postmenopausal women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, published online February 8, 2017; doi: 10.3945/ajcn.116.139683
This article is based on a press-release from Tufts University.
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Study Reveals Health Benefits of Whole-Grain Diet - Sci-News.com
Six tips to reduce added sugar in your diet – FOX31 Denver
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DENVER -- February is National Heart Month, and as part of our 2 Your Health initiative, we are looking for ways to keep the community heart healthy.
Registered dietitian Suzanne Farrell, from Cherry Creek Nutrition, says most people know to watch the fat in their diet, but some dont know added sugar can affect heart health as well.
The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that found people who consumed 21 percent of their calories from added sugar had double the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. The American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day, and men consume no more than 9 teaspoons.
So Farrell gives her clients six easy tips to decrease your added sugar consumption:
Farrell says its important to understand the food label. You look at the total sugar on something, but look at the ingredient list, and theres lots of names for sugar, of course high fructose corn syrup, but even honey, agave, cane sugar, fruit juice concentrate, she said.
She wants her clients to know, if they make these small changes, they can have a big impact on their overall health.
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Six tips to reduce added sugar in your diet - FOX31 Denver
Locals weigh in on ‘Whole 30’ diet trend – INFORUM
First, hed question why hes being punished. Second, she might wonder whats left to eat.
But thousands of Americans, including some in the Fargo-Moorhead area, are willingly choosing to eat that way as part of the "Whole 30" program based on The New York Times best-selling book, "The Whole 30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom."
Authors Dallas and Melissa Hartwig say "Whole 30" is not a diet, but a "short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract and balance your immune system."
They argue that some foods, like milk, bread or sugary treats, can cause problems in your body making you feel tired or causing digestive issues.
By giving up all of the potentially-troubling food for a month then slowly reintroducing them, you can figure out what might be causing your problems.
It was an idea that intrigued third-grade teacher Kirsten Johnson of Moorhead who didn't need to lose weight, but says she just wanted to feel better.
"I'd come home from work feeling really tired, and I think I had a lot of blood sugar spikes," she says. "I was interested in learning more about the food we eat. I'm also kind of competitive and wanted to challenge myself. Could I really do this for 30 days?"
At first, her husband Eric, who works at Concordia College and calls himself "not always a compliant joiner" thought about eating Whole 30-style just at dinner time. Instead, he decided to jump in wholeheartedly and even write a blog about the experience, called "The Whole Enchilada".
The couple got rid of the forbidden food (tortilla chips, peanuts and cereal among their favorites) and packed their kitchen full of fruits, vegetables, nuts (except peanuts since they are legumes), unprocessed meats and eggs. Beverages were restricted to water and black coffee.
Kirsten Johnson says the book warns you the first few days can be rough, and it was right. "I was cranky, headachey and tired. I think they even tell you by day 5 you might want to kill someone. It didn't get that bad," she says, laughing.
Kirsten Johnson who is 5 feet 2-inches "on a good day" says she felt like she was getting plenty to eat. But the same wasn't true for 6-foot-tall Eric Johnson who says he felt like he was in near-starvation mode sometimes. Yet, surprisingly neither of the Johnsons were overly tempted by cravings.
"I was never dreaming of sugar," she says. "I thought I'd be driving to Walgreens to sneak Milk Duds, but I was fine."
Her husband agreed. "It was never one thing that woke me up in the middle of the night, like 'I need pizza now!' "he says. "The bigger challenge was if someone brought cookies into the office or something."
That was also the challenge for Julie Manney of Fargo who took on the "Whole 30" diet in December.
"I remember I'd walk by someone's desk at work and see a candy jar and think, '28 more days!' " she says.
Manney, who knows the Johnsons through their children, actually provided advice to the couple as they went through the program a month apart.
"The program can be kind of a shock," Kirsten Johnson says. "So it can be nice to have someone to talk to and compare 'this is hard this isn't.' "
The Johnsons say as the program went along their energy improved, and they learned a lot about dining out, meal planning and reading labels. (They were particularly surprised that most bacon sold at the grocery store comes with added sugar, for example.)
Manney learned something a little more specific: "I can't go 30 days without coffee creamer," she says, laughing.
She also says she learned that she doesn't really have sensitivities to any of the foods she cut out.
"Nothing really changed for me after the program," Manney says. "But I think everybody should try it. Everyone is different, and it might help you narrow down what could be causing you problems."
The Johnsons planned to open a bottle of wine at the stroke of midnight when their 30 days were up. Eric Johnson also joked he might find himself in a nacho hangover.
But instead, when the 30 days were up, they eased back into reintroducing their normal diet: Greek yogurt and fruit for breakfast instead of eggs and vegetables. They actually hope to do the Whole 30 periodically throughout the year.
"I couldn't sustain this level of intensity for a year," Eric Johnson says. "I like gluten. I like dairy and I like the social aspect of sharing good food. But this was a good experience that we'll try again sometime."
Kirsten Johnson agreed. "We learned so much," she says. "We learned how to use spices in our food, and we learned that food can be really good without all of those added things."
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Locals weigh in on 'Whole 30' diet trend - INFORUM
The Real-Life Diet of Seattle Seahawks Star Earl Thomas – GQ Magazine
Professional athletes dont get to the top by accident. It takes superhuman levels of time, dedication, and focusand that includes paying attention to what they put in their bellies. In this series, GQ takes a look at what athletes in different sports eat on a daily basis to perform at their best. Heres a look at the daily diet of Seahawks free safety Earl Thomas as he recovers from injury.
As of this past December, Seattle Seahawks free safety and giver of hugs Earl Thomas was on pace for his sixth career Pro Bowl. But then, a freak collision with teammate Kam Chancellor left Thomas with a broken tibia and doubts about his future in the NFL. We checked in with the former Super Bowl champ after the holidays to see how his road to recovery looks now, and if a broken leg changes the way a pro athlete eats.
GQ: Right off the bat, I have to ask, hows the leg doing?
Earl Thomas: Oh, my leg is good, bro. Actually, I went to the doctor yesterday and they put me in aits not really a walking boot, but a little shoe that they put on my cast. It allows me to put, like, 25 percent pressure on my leg. So I feel like Im in a great place, especially being four weeks out.
Thats great to hear. I have to imagine that your diet becomes even more important for you while youre working through this injury.
Thats so true. Right now, its really tough to get a sweat in. I think that its really important to sweat. But just sitting around, doing whatever, its easy to gain weight. So when the leg does get healthy, now youve got to run all that weight off. So Im tuned into that and Im just really fortunate to have a balanced diet.
It has to be so tempting to think, I cant even put weight on my leg for a couple weeks, I might as well enjoy a Big Mac, though.
My thought process was more drastic, because I was on the verge of retirement. Luckily my mind isnt there anymore, but this isnt my rookie year. Im getting older, plus now the leg injury. Ive really got to be on point with my exercise and diet. I know I cant go and tear up McDonalds. No. I know I need to put good stuff in my body.
So has your diet changed at all right now compared to how it normally would be if you didnt go down with the injury? Anything to address that you cant really work out right now?
Im so active during the season that its kind of tough to keep things consistent. When Im really in it, when Im playing, Im so active and busy. My diet can be really sporadic because I can get lost in my work and just forget to eat. So right now, all I can do is control what I can control, and that is making sure I get my breakfast, a nice lunch, and a nice dinner. And Ive been trying to make sure my core stays strong. Doing a lot of crunches, keeping my core tight and where it needs to be. Thats basically all I can do right now.
For most people in your position, I would think that they would automatically decrease the amount of calories theyre consuming.
I just cant live my life thinking that much about it. I would drive myself crazy. I dont want food to be stressful. Honestly, I think I have a phobia with that. Im not the type of guy to track my calories. Im always conscious, but Im going to enjoy life. My wife is from New Orleans, bro, so if Im down there for Mardi Gras, they have some of the best food around! I gotta try it!
Theres nothing worse than going on vacation or a trip to someplace new and youre trying new foods and someone is like Mmm, Ill just have a salad. Get the gumbo!
You mentioned before that youre paying more attention to getting a good breakfast, lunch, and dinner in now. What do those meals typically look like? Is it typically high protein or?
Id put it in the category of high protein. And my wife does a really good job of mixing things up. Im not a really picky eater. Thats probably why my diet has been so varied before this. But my morning go-to is an omelet with fresh spinach and bacon jerky. For lunch, maybe a bowl of pasta. Penne with shrimp. But, you know, I love chicken. I love steak. I love cabbage. Like I said, my wife does a good job mixing it up.
We really do love a great gumbo at dinner time. Maybe some baked cabbage, cabbage over rice. That sounds good to me.
That sounds like it might be on the docket for dinner tonight.
Yeah. My wife makes a good gumbo.
Any desserts, or have those been totally banned while youre healing up?
Oh, man. I love sweet potato pie, so on Christmas I got that. I just totally stuffed myself with sweet potato pie.
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The Real-Life Diet of Seattle Seahawks Star Earl Thomas - GQ Magazine
Lena Dunham Shares Details of Her ‘Trump Diet’ (But She Doesn’t Recommend It) – PEOPLE.com
AfterLena Dunhamrevealed that she stopped being able to eat food followingPresidentDonald Trumps election, she took to Instagram to share a day of her Trump diet.
For those of you begging me for answers, theGirlsstar captioned the image of a piece of notebook paper detailing her meals (or lack thereof) onTuesday complete with time stamps and illustrations.
Dunham says she began her day with green tea and a somber check of the news before eatinghalf a croissant then promptly losther appetitewhen she learnedBetsy DeVoswas confirmed as education secretaryby a historic tie-breaking vote byVice President Mike Pence.
Around 1 p.m., Dunham downed a pack of baby food so she didntfaint while doing press. Shelater shared veggie dogs with her pets while dining on the floor.
FYI still rocking a BMI above doctors recommendation despite months of this, the 30-year-old actress says. Do not recommend this diet.
RELATED VIDEO:Lena Dunham and Cast Stun at Final HBO Premiere of Girls
Dunham stopped by Howard Sterns SiriusXM radio show Monday morningand revealed that she has none other than the commander-in-chiefto thank for her slimmerfigure.
Donald Trump became president and I stopped being able to eat food, she told Stern, 63, after he complimented her look. Everyones been asking like, What have you been doing? And Im like, Try soul-crushing pain and devastation and hopelessness and you, too, will lose weight.
Dunham, who famously pledged a move to Canada ifTrump won the election, also clarified thosecomments to Stern, saying that, at the time, a win for the 70-year-old tycoon seemed like an impossible joke that would never happen. I was like, The most qualified candidate weve ever had is running against a steak salesman. Were going to be fine.
The final season ofGirlsreturns Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
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Lena Dunham Shares Details of Her 'Trump Diet' (But She Doesn't Recommend It) - PEOPLE.com
Rare snow leopard’s diet is one-quarter livestock – Science Magazine
Madhu Chetri
By Virginia MorellFeb. 8, 2017 , 2:00 PM
Endangered snow leopards and rare Himalayan wolves may be giving conservationists in Nepal a new kind of headache. Although both species prefer dining on wild prey, a new study shows they consume far more livestock than realized, a burden on the migrating herders who let their goats, yaks, cows, and horses wanderoften unaccompaniedin the regions mountain pastures. To find out whetherthe wild predators were helping themselves to the occasional domesticated animal meal, scientists collected 573 scats from 182 leopards (Panthera uncial, shown above) and 236 scats from 57 wolves (Canis lupo chanco) at 26 sites spread across 5000 square kilometers of mountain terrain in the Annapurna and Manaslu conservation areas. Their genetic analysis showed that wild blue sheep called bharal comprised 57% of the leopards diet, whereas small mammals such as marmots and hares made up the bulk of the wolves meals, at 41%. The canids also ate Tibetan gazelles and other ungulates, which made up 31% of their diet. Next on the list was livestock, making up 24% of the wolves diets and 27% of the leopards, the scientists report today in PLOS ONE. The spotted cats seem to prefer horses and goats, whereas the wolves favor goats, horses, cows, and yaksan animal the leopards avoid, perhaps because of its size. Males are the primary livestock killers, possibly because females are more wary, the scientists say. The findings come as no surprise to the scientists, who predicted that the predators would eat more livestock when wild prey was scarcea behavior common to big wild cats like tigers, lions, and cougars. But they also worry that the predators taste for domesticated animals will make it harder to protect them from humans seeking revenge. One solution? Building up the populations of the leopards and wolves wild prey.
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Rare snow leopard's diet is one-quarter livestock - Science Magazine
A diet of corn turns wild hamsters into cannibals – Science News (blog)
The first sign that something was wrong was that the female hamsters were really active in their cages. These were European hamsters, a species that is endangered in France and thought to be on the decline in the rest of their Eurasian range. But in a lab at the University of Strasbourg in France, the hamsters were oddly aggressive, and they didnt give birth in their nests.
Mathilde Tissier, a conservation biologist at the University of Strasbourg, remembers seeing the newly born pups alone, spread around in the cages, while their mothers ran about. Then, the mother hamsters would take their pups and put them in the piles of corn they had stored in the cage, Tissier says, and eat their babies alive.
I had some really bad moments, she says. I thought I had done something wrong.
Tissier and her colleagues had been looking into the effect of wheat- and corn-based diets in European hamsters because the rodents population in France was quickly disappearing. It now numbers only about 1,000 animals, most of which live in farm fields. The hamsters, being burrowers, are important for the local ecosystem and can promote soil health. But more than that, theyre an umbrella species, Tissier notes. Protect them, and their habitat, and there will be benefits for the many other farmland species that are declining.
A typical corn field is some seven times larger than the home range for a female hamster, so the animals that live in these agricultural areas eat mostly corn or whatever other crop is growing in that field. But not all crops provide the same level of nutrition, and Tissier and her colleagues were curious about how that might affect the hamsters. Perhaps there would be differences in litter size or pup growth, they surmised. So they began an experiment, feeding hamsters wheat or corn in the lab, with either clover or earthworms to better reflect the animals normal, omnivorous diets.
We thought [the diets] would create some [nutritional] deficiencies, Tissier says. But instead, Tissier and her colleagues saw something very different. All the female hamsters were able to successfully reproduce, but those fed corn showed abnormal behaviors before giving birth. They then gave birth outside their nests and most ate their young on the first day after birth. Only one female weaned her pups, though that didnt have a happy ending either the two brothers ate their female siblings, Tissier and her colleagues report January 18 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Tissier spent a year trying to figure out what was going on. Hamsters and other rodents will eat their young, but it is usually when a baby has died and the mother hamster wants to keep her nest clean. They dont normally eat healthy babies alive. The researchers reared more hamsters in the lab, this time supplementing their maize and earthworm diet with a solution of niacin. This time, the hamsters raised their young normally, and not as a snack.
Unlike wheat, corn lacks a number of micronutrients, including niacin. In people who subsist on a diet of mostly corn, that niacin deficiency can result in a disease called pellagra. The disease emerged in the 1700s in Europe after corn became a dietary staple. People with pellagra experienced horrible rashes, diarrhea and dementia. Until the diseases cause was identified in the mid-20th century, millions of people suffered and thousands died. (The meso-Americans who domesticated corn largely did not have this problem because they processed corn with a technique called nixtamalization, which frees bound niacin in corn and makes it available as a nutrient. The Europeans who brought corn back to their home countries didnt bring back this process.)
The European hamsters fed corn-based diets exhibited symptoms similar to pellagra, and this is probably happening in the wild, Tissier says. She notes that officials with the French National Office for Hunting and Wildlife have seen hamsters in the wild subsisting on mostly corn and eating their pups.
Tissier and her colleagues are now working to find ways to improve diversity in agricultural systems, so that hamsters and other creatures can eat a more well-balanced diet. The idea is not only to protect the hamster, she says, but to protect the entire biodiversity and to restore good ecosystems, even in farmland.
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A diet of corn turns wild hamsters into cannibals - Science News (blog)
Shaq Is Following This Strict Diet So He Can Take His Shirt Off ‘One Last Time for Instagram’ – PEOPLE.com
Like anyone on adiet, Shaquille ONealhas specific motivation to keep hishealthy eatingon track.
My goal is to be able to take my shirt off one last time for Instagram, the former NBA star told PEOPLE at the Oreo Dunk Challenge on Wednesday, as part of the#OREODunkSweepstakes. I want to show my six-pack Im close I have a four-pack now, so probably by the end of May Ill be able to take my shirt off.
The Basketball Hall of Famer who stars alongside Christina Aguilera in the new Oreo campaign has been sticking to a diet of a lot of chicken, a lot of fish and a lot of salad for three weeks now. I eat six small meals a day because Im working out everyday, he says. I do 30 minutes cardio and then I do weights, chest, arms, back. I need to start doing legs my legs are still kind of weak from playing, so I havent really done legs.
For more exclusive celebritydiet news, follow People Food on Facebook.
ONeal has cut out soda, bread and his beloved sandwiches. Hes even eliminated his favorite cheats days at McDonalds or Waffle House entirely from his diet.Im trying to get big and bulky and strong like a body builder almost, he says. When I take my shirt off I want you to see muscles everywhere.
Luckily, the self-proclaimed simple eater isnt tempted to over-indulge on date nights with his girlfriend, Laticia Rolle, because, I dont eat out at all, he says. Id rather stay home and relax.
WATCH THIS:Watch Shaquille ONeal Take a Massive Tumble!
And no, he doesnt cook or make Rolle cook for him.
She can cook but I dont let her cook because Im on the King and Queen thing. When we first met, she wanted to cook for me and I said, Do you think the Queen of England cooks her own meals? She said, No. So we dont have to either, he explains. She works very hard, I dont want to wear her out. Its hard for a woman in America so I dont want her to work all day and have to come home and cook for me. Were blessed enough where we can have a chef.
hey Shaq
A photo posted by Simone Biles (@simonebiles) on Feb 5, 2017 at 1:14pm PST
ONeal recently made headlines for his size when Olympic gymnast Simone Biles shared a photo of the pair posing next to each other. With ONeal standing at 71 and Biles at 49, the contrast was mesmerizing. Shes awesome, ONeal said of meeting the fellow athlete. Good-looking girl, too. Really awesome.
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Shaq Is Following This Strict Diet So He Can Take His Shirt Off 'One Last Time for Instagram' - PEOPLE.com
8 Women Share The Diet Changes They Made To Get Their Rheumatoid Arthritis Under Control – Prevention.com
Prevention.com | 8 Women Share The Diet Changes They Made To Get Their Rheumatoid Arthritis Under Control Prevention.com A Paleo-based diet, it's designed to calm the immune system, reduce inflammation, and promote healing in the gut. I was already gluten-, dairy-, soy-, and egg-free for hypothyroidism and other health reasons, but AIP also eliminates all grains ... |
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8 Women Share The Diet Changes They Made To Get Their Rheumatoid Arthritis Under Control - Prevention.com
How to Treat Ulcerative Colitis with Diet – Care2.com
The rotten egg gas, hydrogen sulfide, is one of the main malodorous compounds in human flatusin other words, one of the main reasons farts can smell so badbut the larger concern is that it may be responsible for relapses of inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis.
In my video below,I talk about the role animal protein may play in the development of these diseases, thought to be because of putrefying animal protein gas. But what if you already have ulcerative colitis? Can cutting down on sulfur-containing amino acids help? Previously, the only dietary intervention shown to help at all was the withdrawal of milk.
Case reports going back decades described patients with ulcerative colitis whose flares appeared to be triggered by cows milk. The elimination of all dairy products from the diet was reported to frequently result in a dramatic improvement in symptoms. But, when milk was reintroduced back into patients diets, it could trigger an attack. The role of milk wasnt formally studied though, until 1965. Was it just a small group of patients who were allergic? Or, could a milk-free diet help with this disease in general?
Researchers randomized patients presenting with an attack of ulcerative colitis into a milk-free diet group or a control placebo dummy diet group, in which they told people not to eat random foods to make it seem like they were getting special treatment. The milk-free diet worked better: Twice as many were symptom-free when they were off all dairy, and fewer patients suffered relapses. So, there seems to be a certain proportion of ulcerative colitis patients who would benefit from eliminating all dairy products. These researchers estimated that milk is a trigger in about one in every five cases, so, certainly, sufferers should try a dairy-free trial to see if theyre one of the lucky ones who can control this condition with such a simple dietary intervention.
What about cutting back on sulfur-containing amino acids in general? A study of four ulcerative colitis sufferers found that their daily bouts of bloody diarrhea significantly lessened when they did just that. Reduced intake of sulfur-containing, amino acid-rich foods produced an improvement in moderately severe ulcerative colitis. What happened when they added these foods back into their diets? The researchers felt the effect was so dramatic that going back to eating foods such as meat, dairy, eggs, and sulfited wine was considered unethical.
That was just a pilot study, though. Researchers then set up a study in which 191 ulcerative colitis patients in remission were followed for a year to determine which foods were associated with a relapse. These turned out to be meat and alcohol, which makes sense because theyre both rich sources of sulfur, which may increase the concentration of hydrogen sulfide, which, if you remember, is toxic because it interferes with our bodys utilization of fiber that our good bacteria turn into a beneficial compound called butyrate.
How can we increase fecal butyrate levels to counteract any hydrogen sulfide? Butyrate enemas have been shown to be of benefit, but if butyrate is made from fiber, cant we then just get it the regular waythat is, by eating it? Yes. Ulcerative colitis sufferers were given oat bran for three months, making their good bacteria happy. None of them relapsed, and their symptoms appeared to be under better control.
One of the common questions we physicians treating patients with inflammatory bowel disease are often asked is whether changing diet could positively affect the course of their disease. So far our answerespecially for ulcerative colitishas been, We dont know; there are no special recommendations. This may now change, though, with a study suggesting that consumption of meat may aggravate the course of inflammatory bowel disease.
So, folks may want to cut down on meat, eating it no more than once a week. While we dont yet have confirmation from interventional studies to support the specifics, this could be considered the best available evidence we have right now.
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you havent yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not to Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
Related:
What Happens to Meat in Our Colon Preventing Ulcerative Colitis with Diet How to Mitigate and Prevent Crohns Disease With Diet
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
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How to Treat Ulcerative Colitis with Diet - Care2.com