New research indicates that people who ingest more olive oil, grapeseed oil and peanut oil are less likely to get ulcerative colitis.

A new study by researchers at the University of East Anglia has shown that consuming more olive oil can actually prevent ulcerative colitis.  The findings were presented at this year’s Digestive Disease Week conference in New Orleans.  The study centered on oleic acid, which is present in olive oil, peanut oil and grapeseed oil.  Oleic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid.

Over 120,000 people in the UK and 1 million in the US have ulcerative colitis.  The disease causes inflammation in the lining of the colon and bowel leading to pain and diarrhea.  Other symptoms of ulcerative colitis include fever, weight loss, and gastrointestinal bleeding.

This new research studied over 25,000 middle-aged people in the UK who did not have ulcerative colitis.  The participants completed food diaries during the study, which were then analyzed by nutritionists.

When researchers analyzed the results, they found that the people, who developed ulcerative colitis, had the lowest intake of oleic acid.  On the other hand, those who ate the most foods with oleic acid had a 90% less change of getting ulcerative colitis.

Dr. Andrew Hart was the leader of the research, he stated, “We estimate that around half of the cases of ulcerative colitis could be prevented if larger amounts of oleic acid were consumed.  Two-to-three tablespoons of olive oil per day would have a protective effect.”

Other dietary suggestions for those with ulcerative colitis include drinking lots of water, eating smaller portions, and avoiding fattening greasy foods.  Obviously, these are good suggestions for everyone, even if this digestive issue does not impact them.

Sources:
health.google.com
medicalnewstoday.com

Italian researchers believe antioxidant supplementation can reduce the development of cancerous polyps.

The array of benefits antioxidants provide continue to grow, much to the chagrin of skeptical “scientists” who believe antioxidants are bunkum and don’t provide any material health benefit.  Well I wonder what they’ll think of the latest study that finds antioxidants improve colon health.

Not much, I’m sure.

Before I get into the study, colon health is a lot like the electricity when it goes out; we don’t appreciate it until we lose it or have a problem with it.  That’s certainly how people with ulcerative colitis feel.  Ulcerative colitis, a specific type of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), occurs when the lining of the colon becomes inflamed, leading to all sorts of excretory and digestive system problems like bloody diarrhea, painful gas and bloating.  Many medicinal treatments exist for ulcerative colitis, but they’re very expensive and often loaded with side-effects (e.g. common long-term side effects from ulcerative colitis medications include acne, insomnia, weight gain, and changes in mood).

And as much of a pain ulcerative colitis is to live with (literally and figuratively), at least it’s not a deadly condition, unlike colon cancer.  While colon cancer mortality rates have dropped, it still has a fairly high five-year mortality rate (about 40 percent).

But with the help of antioxidants, the colon cancer mortality rate can come down even further.

The researchers of the antioxidant study supplied approximately 400 participants with either a placebo or a super-duper antioxidant supplement.  It was “super-duper” because it contained a veritable treasure trove of antioxidants, including vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin C, and zinc.  All the participants had a history of cancerous polyp development (all of whom had them removed via surgery).

After supplementing with these antioxidants for a short time, the researchers found that it paid dividends almost immediately; the development of cancerous colon polyps reduced by 40 percent compared to the placebo group.  What’s more, this diminishment in polyp development continued for 13 years, the extent of time the researchers devoted to follow-up.

The study was conducted by researchers from Genoa, Italy’s National Institute for Cancer Research.

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why the heck I brought up ulcerative colitis when the study’s findings found it to be effective in cancerous polyp development in the colon.  Well, besides the fact that ulcerative colitis is a condition that concerns the colon, it’s a condition that also increases the risk for colon cancer development.

People with and without ulcerative colitis should be getting plenty of antioxidants through their diet, but there are other supplements you can take both to prevent and treat ulcerative colitis.  Vitamin K—one of two fat-soluble vitamins not supplied to the participants—has been shown to helps heal the lining of the colon.  You can dose with vitamin K directly or get it from rich vitamin K herbal sources like alfalfa.  Being deficient in vitamin K is a natural side-effect of ulcerative colitis.

Something else that’s deficient in people with ulcerative colitis is iron.  Iron is traditionally found in meat sources, but vegetables and legume sources like spinach and chickpeas are good ways to increase levels of iron in the blood.

Sources:
Balch, Phyllis A. “Prescription for Nutritional Healing.” 4th Ed. 2006. New York: Avery
nutraingredients.com
ezinearticles.com
ehealthmd.com
coloncancer

Excess consumption of Omega-6s can lead to ulcerative colitis.

In a recent “Mangano Minute” posting, I talked about the importance of balancing omega-3s and omega-6s.  I talked about how omega-6 fats – often painted as a bad source of fat – are actually good for you, so long as they’re eaten in proper proportion to omega-3s and from quality food sources (you can read it in full here).

Here’s another reason why they should be eaten proportionally:  It can affect your bowel health, be it positively or negatively.
The bowel health I speak of is a condition called ulcerative colitis.  And according to British researchers from the University of East Anglia, people whose diets are high in omega-6s but low in omega-3s are at the highest risk.

Ulcerative colitis is a specific kind of inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, and it specifically targets the inner lining of the digestive tract’s large intestine and rectum.  The symptoms vary in type and intensity, but some common ones include bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping, unintended weight loss, and tenderness in the rectal area (people with ulcerative colitis often feel the urge to pass a bowel movement but can’t because of the severe inflammation).

In the researchers analysis of over 200,000 men and women, Dr. Andrew Hart and his colleagues used food frequency questionnaires to gauge what the then-healthy men and women were eating over a four-year period.  At the end of the study, Hart and company found that a very small proportion got ulcerative colitis, just 126 people.  What really spoke volumes, though, was the commonality of dietary intake among those who got the inflammatory bowel disease.  They found that those whose diets were highest in lineolic acid – a type of omega-6 fatty acid – were about 150 percent more likely to have been affected by ulcerative colitis.

On the other hand, there was also a linkage among those whose diets were high in omega-3s, specifically DHA (or docosahexaenoic acid, a fatty acid found most abundantly in flax seeds, walnuts and salmon).  For those people, they were about 80 percent less likely to have ulcerative colitis compared to those whose diets were low in omega-3s but high in omega-6s.

Speaking to Nutra-Ingredients.com, Hart said that if these results prove accurate – and more testing will confirm that – there’s every reason to suspect that the incidence rate of ulcerative colitis can be minimized through some dietary tinkering.

According to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearing House, there are about eight new cases of ulcerative colitis per 100,000 people per year.  That’s the incidence rate.  But for the prevalence rate, it’s much higher – about 246 cases per 100,000 people every year (there’s a subtle difference between prevalence and incidence.  Basically, “prevalence” is the total number of cases at any given point in time, while “incidence” is the number of new cases at a given time).

This study was published in the journal Gut.
Once again, it’s important to consume quality food sources that have both omega-3s and omega-6s.  As my last article referenced, the optimal amount of omega-6s to consume should be right around 12 to 22 grams worth, depending on age and activity level.  This is important to remember because omega-6s are found in far more foods than omega-3s, so they can be easily eaten in excess.  In more general terms, omega-6 fatty acids should take up about 10 percent of your daily calorie allotment.

Sources:
mayoclinic.com
nutraingredients.com
digestive.niddk.nih.gov