Some three million Americans are living with the sickening discomfort of inflamed guts.
For some, these inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), such as IBS or Crohn’s, flare up from time to time and vanish. For others, it’s an almost constant struggle.
But in either case, the misery can be off the charts. Because unlike so many other conditions, these can literally keep you from living your life.
IBDs can force you to cancel dinner plans, avoid friends, and hide at home because you don’t want to have to run to a toilet.
But new research reveals one step you can take that has already brought real relief to countless other folks. And it could be the key to erasing your inflammatory bowel agony too.
You can try it yourself… at home… starting as soon as today.
Reverse gut inflammation with this diet change
The new study focused on a diet change we’ve talked about a lot here in Healthier Talk. And that’s low carb-eating
When the researchers switched mice and then humans to eating a low-carb ketogenic diet, some pretty dramatic and positive changes occurred in their gut flora. And that shift in belly bugs dialed back the inflammation at the heart of these bowel issues.
In the study, 17 overweight volunteers were sent to live in a specialized clinic where all their meals could be carefully prepared. Everything they ate was tracked throughout the experiment.
Some folks were given the keto diet with just five percent carbs. While the other group got a more typical Western-style diet with 50 percent carbs.
Tests revealed some remarkable changes deep inside the gut of the keto group.
Specifically, they had MUCH lower levels of Bifidobacteria. This is significant because an earlier animal study found these specific belly bugs crank out inflammation activating immune cells called Th17.
In other words, the more Bifidobacteria you have in your digestive system, the higher your inflammation levels tend to be. So the researchers believe the keto diet could help folks with IBS or other inflammatory bowel diseases by slashing THEIR gut inflammation too.
Calm your gut in 30 days or less
More research is needed, of course. We don’t know yet exactly how the keto diet will affect someone with an inflammatory bowel condition. But it’s an important finding. Plus, earlier research points in the same direction.
In 2015, for example, scientists tested one type of low-carb eating called the specific-carbohydrate diet on folks with Crohn’s disease. They found many volunteers didn’t just improve. They achieved close to total remission.
In that study, the researchers theorized that carbs “fermenting” in the gut were behind the inflammation and flare-ups in people prone to these conditions. So by reducing their carbs, they erased the issues.
In the new study, many of the volunteers reported significant improvements within about 30 days. So if you decide to give low-carb eating a try to ease your own gut inflammation plan to stick with it for at least a month before you decide if it’s working out for you.
As with many disorders, there are likely different causes and triggers for IBDs. So what works for some folks may not always do the trick for others.
But since the low-carb diet is safe and healthy, there’s certainly no harm in getting your doc’s go ahead and then giving it a shot. Along with potentially easing your IBD symptoms, low carb can help you lose weight and protect your heart health, too.
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