Breaking the Link – IBS and Bacterial Overgrowth Attributing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to bacterial overgrowth may be a mistake. According to Swedish researchers in a 2007 report published in the medical journal, Gut, the misguided assumption could be due to ineffective testing methods used in previous studies. IBS is a common digestive disorder characterized [...]
Campylobacter Campylobacter is a species of bacteria that is one of the leading causes of foodborne diarrheal disease in the modern world. Although their Salmonella and E. coli cousins have become engrained in the minds of wary hamburger-eaters everywhere, this lesser known genus of bacteria has not garnered as much attention. This is surprising given [...]
Lawsuit Settled: Dannon1 Yogurt Didn’t Measure Up to Its Claims The $35 million US Activia® settlement is the largest-ever for a lawsuit alleging false advertising of a food product. In September 2009, Dannon settled a massive consumer class action suit in the US challenging that ads for certain brands of its yogurt overstate their claimed [...]
H. pylori Passed from Mother to Child A Japanese study published in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, investigated the transmission of H. pylori within young patients and their families. Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that weakens the protective mucous coating of the esophagus, stomach or duodenum, allowing acid to irritate the sensitive lining beneath, causing [...]
Intestinal Microbes & Prebiotics at a Glance What are microbes? Microbes, short for microorganisms, are microscopic, living organisms such as bacteria, viruses, and yeast. There are more than 400 species of microbes in the digestive tract. What do microbes do in the colon? There are two basic bacterial cell types in the digestive tract: beneficial [...]
Nobel Prize for H. pylori Discovery The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine to Dr. Barry J. Marshall, 54, and Dr. J. Robin Warren, 68, for their discovery of the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacterium and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer [...]
People Without Symptoms Spread C. Difficile Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is the most common cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea and is the bacterium responsible for several recent outbreaks of the sometimes-fatal illness. Surprisingly, researchers have found these bacteria on the hands of long-term care residents who are currently symptom-free at a greater rate than on the [...]
Probiotics for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Sulfa Drugs? NSAIDS? Who needs ‘em? I’ve got yoghurt for my IBD! For those of you amused by the absurdity of such a notion, there may be more to this statement than you might think. With the rapidly growing threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, medical researchers have been directing their attention [...]
Prebiotics: The Latest Food for Thought Many health professionals have been paying a great deal of attention to prebiotics recently. Nestlé Peptamen® with FOS/Inulin is a tube-feeding/oral formula that offers the benefits of prebiotics. But what exactly is a prebiotic? A prebiotic is a nondigestible food ingredient that helps restore and maintain friendly bacteria. These [...]
Kevin Freeman: Trekking in Nepal Bitten by the travel bug? Limited by health concerns? For many of us with special dietary needs, travelling can be an arduous experience. I’ve had two surgeries for Crohn’s disease so I understand the frustration involved in travelling. However, as one of my life long dreams has been to see [...]
Carly McNaughton: The Ultimate Face-Off As a member of the Colgate University women’s ice hockey team, Carly McNaughton was spending the summer of 2004, like most summers, preparing for the upcoming hockey season. In July, Carly’s ordinary summer suddenly turned sour when she experienced a rapid weight loss of 30 pounds in three weeks. The [...]
Photodynamic Therapy for Barrett's Esophagus High Grade Dysplasia Barrett’s Esophagus You are at risk of developing Barrett’s esophagus if you have chronic acid reflux disease, also known as GERD. It is estimated that 5% to 20% of people who have chronic acid reflux also have Barrett’s esophagus.1 However, it is important to note that people [...]
Bone Disease and IBD In studies with mice, scientists have found evidence that the cause of osteoporosis-like bone disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, and celiac disease may be an abnormal regulation of a common protein, according to a recent study from the UK. Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mass and micro-architectural [...]
Celiac Disease and Canadian Income Tax As of 2003, incremental (additional) costs of Gluten-Free (GF) products are an eligible medical expense on T1 individual tax return. Individuals who suffer from celiac disease (gluten intolerance) are entitled to claim the incremental costs of purchasing gluten-free (GF) products as a medical expense for the 2003 and subsequent [...]
Celiac Disease from a Personal Perspective Celiac disease, when compared to alternative diseases to have in this life, is a wonderful one to have. It is entirely controllable by diet, and from a nutritional point of view, it is a healthy, tasty, totally liveable life-sentence. Let’s Examine the Positive Aspects: All fruit and vegetables, rice, [...]
Cheaters Never Prosper on a Gluten-Free Diet Celiac Disease is a condition where the absorptive surface of the small intestine is damaged when gluten is ingested. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. There is still controversy over whether or not people with celiac tolerate oats; Canadian associations do not recommend the [...]
IBD & Pregnancy: Meeting the Challenge Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and ulcerative proctitis, is a complex condition that presents unique sets of problems because the disease behaves differently from person to person. Although IBD is chronic, it is not consistent; for many Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis patients, symptom [...]
When to Begin Toilet Training Toilet training can be challenging for parents and caregivers as they struggle to decipher the appropriate time and method for teaching a child this universally essential skill. Interestingly, a review of toilet training literature published in the journal, Ambulatory Pediatrics, shows that the average age to complete toilet training [...]
Clinical Trials The clinical side of research is dependent on volunteers with the condition that the new medication, device, or procedure is aimed to help. Almost all medications have gone through many stages of research before they were ready for the market. In phase one trials, researchers are typically trying to determine if a treatment [...]
Collagenous Colitis Collagenous colitis is a condition that was first described in 1976. Although over three decades have passed, its etiology, course of progression, and method of treatment are still unclear. A diagnosis of collagenous colitis may take several years, as this form of inflammatory bowel disease is less common, and therefore less frequently seen [...]
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