"The Best Diet for Ulcerative Colitis Treatment"
One of the most common questions physicians treating patients
with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are asked is whether
changing one's diet can positively affect the course of their disease?
Traditionally, our answer had been, "We have no clue,"
but this may now be changing,
given the evidence that hydrogen sulfide may be playing
a role in ulcerative colitis.
And since the sulfur-containing amino acids concentrated in meat
cause an increase in colonic levels of this rotten egg gas,
maybe we should take off the meat. See, animal protein isn't just associated
with an increased risk of getting inflammatory bowel disease
in the first place, but also IBD relapses once you have the disease.
This is a recent development. Because the concept of IBD as a lifestyle disease
mediated mainly by a Westernized diet is not widely appreciated, an analysis
of diet in the follow-up period after diagnosis in relation to a relapse
of inflammatory bowel disease has been ignored. But not any longer.
Ulcerative colitis patients in remission and their diets were followed for a year
to see which foods were linked to the bloody diarrhea coming raging back.
And the strongest relationship between a dietary factor and an increased risk
of relapse observed in this study was for a high intake of meat.
So, what if you have people lower their sulfur-containing amino acid intake
by decreasing their consumption of animal products? They tried it
on four ulcerative colitis patients, and without any change in meds,
they experienced like a four-fold improvement in their loose stools.
In fact, they felt so much better that they didn't think it ethical
to try switching them back.
Since sulfur-containing amino acids are the primary source of dietary sulfur,
a low sulfur diet essentially means a shift from a typical diet high
in animal protein and fat, and low in fiber, to more of a plant-based diet.
Westernized diets are pro-inflammatory,
and plant-based diets are anti-inflammatory.
Let's see what treatment with a plant-based diet can do, after
the onset of ulcerative colitis during a low-carbohydrate weight-loss diet.
A 36-year-old man lost 13 pounds on a low-carb diet,
but also lost his health, diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.
Put him on a diet centered around whole plant foods, though,
and poof—symptoms resolved without medication. Okay, but this is
just one case. I mean, case reports are like glorified anecdotes.
The value of case reports lies in their ability to inspire researchers
to put it to the test, and that's exactly what they did.
There had never been a study published, focusing on using plant-based diets
for the treatment of ulcerative colitis until now.
Considering the lack of a suitable diet to be the biggest issue faced
in the current treatment of inflammatory bowel disease,
and regarding it as a lifestyle disease caused mainly by our omnivorous diet,
a group of Japanese gastroenterologists have been providing a plant-based diet
to all patients with IBD for over a decade, and publishing extraordinary
results, far better than have to date been reported in the medical literature.
I profiled some of the early work in one of my first videos that went up
on NutritionFacts.org, found to be effective in the maintenance
of remission in Crohn's disease
by 100% at one year, 90% at two years.
So how about a plant-based diet for relapse prevention in ulcerative colitis?
Educational hospitalization meant bringing patients into the hospital
to control their diet and educate them
about the benefits of plant-based eating,
so they'd be more motivated to continue it at home.
Most patients—about three-quarters— experienced improvements
such as disappearance or decrease in bloody stool during hospitalization.
Fantastic! Okay, but here's the really exciting part. Then they followed
the patients for 5 years, and 81% were able to remain in remission
the whole time, and 98% were able to keep the disease at bay for at least a year.
I mean that blows other treatments away.
Those relapse rates are far lower than those reported with medication.
Under conventional treatment, other studies found that about half relapse,
compared to only 2% among those taught to eat healthier.
A plant-based diet was previously shown to be effective in both the active and
quiescent stages of Crohn's disease. The current study has shown that a
plant-based diet is effective in both the active and quiescent stages
of ulcerative colitis as well.
And so they did another study on even more severely affected cases
with active disease and found the same thing,
far beating out conventional drug therapy.
People felt so much better, they were still eating more plant-based
even 6 years later.
The researchers conclude that a plant-based diet is effective
for treating ulcerative colitis to prevent a relapse.
Why? Well, plant-based diets are rich in fiber, which feeds our good gut bugs.
That might partly explain why a plant-based diet prevents
a variety of chronic diseases.
And so that's what we may be seeing with inflammatory bowel disease,
suggesting that replacing an omnivorous diet with a plant-based diet
is the right approach. It's like using plant-based diets to treat
the cause of heart disease, our #1 killer.
Not just safer and cheaper, but works better.
No adverse side effects noted for plant-based eating.
Let's compare that to the side effects of immunosuppressants
used for ulcerative colitis, like cyclosporine. Side effects include...
And now we have even fancier drugs that cost about $60,000 a year
that s $5,000 a month and they don't even work very well,
with clinical remission at 1 year of only like 17 to 34%.
And instead of no adverse side effects, they can give you a stroke.
They can give you heart failure. They can even give you cancer,
including a rare type of cancer that often results in death.
Or how about a serious brain disease known as progressive multifocal
leukoencephalopathy, which can kill you,
and for which there is no known treatment or cure.
Yeah, yeah, increased risk of death,
but did we mention how nice and small the pill was and the easy-to-open bottle?