Inflammatory Bowel Disease Nutrition Tips (Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis) Nutrition Recommendations During Remission (Inactive Disease) Aim to eat balanced meals and snacks with a combination of protein, fat, and complex carbohydrates. Check out the plate method in Canada’s Food Guide to see what this could look like. Choose a variety of healthy whole [...]
Obesity Update 2022 Obesity groups across the globe have been meeting to develop new guidelines for treating adults living with obesity that have their roots in the hard work done by Obesity Canada in 2020, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.1 In May 2022, the World Health Organization warned that Europe faces an epidemic [...]
A Cure for Colorectal Cancer on The Horizon? There might be a cure on the horizon for one of the most common cancers in Canada. Colorectal cancer occurs often among adults 50 years of age and older and usually develops from benign polyps called adenomas. Early warning signs of colorectal cancer include blood on or [...]
Mark Ferguson: Diverticular Disease Surgery Experience I’m 67 years old and I’ve had 27 diverticulitis attacks over a span of about eleven years. It’s been a painful journey. After interviewing six different surgeons in Ottawa in 2018, they told me diverticula surgery is not routinely done anymore according to new guidelines unless it’s complicated, i.e., [...]
IBS and Food Avoidance Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic, functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorder characterized by abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, and/or diarrhea. These symptoms can be persistent and greatly impact quality of life. There are three distinct subtypes: IBS-C, in which the person primarily experiences constipation; IBS-D, in which they primarily experience diarrhea; and [...]
The Weight Gain Battle From conception, a deep-seated self-preservation goal of your biology is to grow and acquire body stores, including energy in the form of fat. Obesity is a complex disease in which abnormal or excess body fat impairs health.1 There is a clear brain-gut connection in obesity. Once you gain weight, your body [...]
Gail Attara’s 26 years of service and counting! Message from the CSIR and GI Society Boards of Directors Gail Attara’s first day as executive director of the Northwestern Society of Intestinal Research (SIR) was March 14, 1996. She was a single mother of four who signed on to work from 9 am - 2 pm [...]
New Medication Class for Ulcerative Colitis Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that consists of fine ulcerations in the inner mucosal lining of the large intestine (colon). Symptoms include rectal bleeding, diarrhea accompanied by abdominal pain, constipation, and extra-intestinal manifestations such as fever and inflammation of the eyes or joints. While there is [...]
Gut↔Brain Axis Does the Microbiota Affect Brain Health? Have you ever experienced that moment where your gut feels uneasy before a final exam, a date, or an important job interview? This physiological response is not entirely random and suggests that the brain and gut are connected. There is constant bidirectional communication between the gut and [...]
Artificial Intelligence Machines Can Now Write Medical Articles Automation exists in many aspects of our lives, even in some of the articles you read. With a bit of input from humans, certain apps are designed to use artificial intelligence (AI) to write articles and other content on their own. We call these “AI writing assistants” [...]
