[.ca] Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Food Solutions):: Recipes and ... (ISBN 0600604950)

Inflamatory Bowel Disease-Food Solutions:
The book provides classic symptoms for inflammatory bowel disease; such as, feeling of fullness, irritable bladder, headache, fatigue and fibromyalgia. The authors distinguish between mechanical digestion and chemical digestion which is the enzyme breakdown of food in the body. IBS happens when the muscular activity or motility is altered. Contraction either speeds up or slows down food movements through the digestive tract. John Hopkins University found that 6 - 8 peristaltic contractions were the ideal; whereas, IBS patients can have as few as "0" contractions and as many as 25. A slowdown of food movements can lead to putrification of the food, fermentation and bacterial overgrowth. Classic triggers of this condition are dairy, insufficient fiber, excessive smoking, stress and certain types of drugs. The challenge for the patient is to diarize the food each day and the adverse reactions as a condition precedent to managing this disease. A related work by Hamlyn recommends the evaluation of stool samples for parasitic infection and the sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy. Loperamide may be utilized to reduce bowel contractions and Mebeverine is an anti-spasm drug. Ispaghula husk may be used as a bulking agent to harden stool prior to elimination. Peppermint oil classically relaxes gut muscles. Hamlyn's work recommends that IBS patients reduce sugary foods, reduce or eliminate smoking, increase omega 3 oils and decrease milk consumption.