To Your Health

A. Crohn's disease is an inflammatory situation that usually begins after a bout of intestinal flu that involves the use of antibiotics, often when people are fairly young. The inflammation mostly involves the wall of the small bowel (ileum) and may result in chronic thickening of the intestinal wall that reduces its ability to absorb nutrients. The inflamed digestive tract is injured and needs to heal. If there is no relief, as time goes on energy drops and many victims become depressed.

An elemental diet is simply one in which all nutrients are supplied in predigested form. It is routinely used in the treatment of Crohn's disease because it usually has a better success rate than Prednisone or other prescription remedies. It is the free-form amino acids that most people find unappetizing (the fat and carbohydrates don't taste too bad and there are not enough minerals to contribute to a disagreeable taste). Unfortunately there is no way to boot out the free-form amino acids because they substitute for protein.

The fact that an elemental diet helped is a clue that food sensitivity is probably the root of your trouble. Certainly if food sensitivity was not the cause of your Crohn's disease it almost surely is present now as a result of the alterations in your gut that develop during Crohn's disease. A food diary may help you identify offending foods, but even then discovering which foods trigger symptoms can be a challenge. If your experiments incriminate certain specific foods, one of your tasks will then be to find safe alternatives that are nutritionally equivalent to the food you must avoid. For instance, milk products are a common offending food for those with Crohn's disease, so suitable substitutes should be found that will supply the calcium, protein, vitamins, and essential fatty acids that are in milk. Another example of a common problem food would be wheat, often a primary fiber source. Sometimes the fiber in wheat can be replaced by high-fiber vegetables, and sometimes it is simply necessary to use a fiber supplement.

Everyone agrees that Crohn's disease is one of the situations that demands vitamin and mineral supplementation. You can find many choices of good quality multivitamin/mineral formulas at health food stores and pharmacies. Capsules are recommended because they dissolve more easily than tablets.

Tests to detect food sensitivities are available. Those that test for IgG1 and IgG4 antibodies to a panel of foods seem to be most worthwhile. Even so, blood tests for food sensitivity should always be confirmed with your own experience through an "elimination and challenge" test.

There are no specific foods that have to be avoided by every Crohn's disease sufferer, but when you find a food that upsets your digestive tract you should avoid it. Avoid overly processed or "empty calorie" foods; since your gut is not working at 100%, you need all the nutrients you can get. Chewing your food thoroughly and eating in a relaxed state will also aid the digestion of your food and assimilation of the nutrients it contains.