When you have inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, your immune system mistakes food and other materials in your intestines for foreign substances. Therefore, your immune system attacks the cells in your intestines. You can reverse this faulty attack on your immune system by adhering to a physician prescribed and monitored elemental diet.
Identification
Inflammatory bowel disease is the blanket name for a group of diseases that cause intestinal inflammation. IBD causes intestinal bleeding, abdominal pain, weight loss and diarrhea. Two types of IBD are Crohn's disease, a condition marked by ulcers, or open sores in your large and small intestines; and ulcerative colitis, a condition marked by ulcers in the lower part of your large intestine. Therefore, an elemental diet for IBD is a medically prescribed eating regimen designed to alleviate or possibly eradicate your IBD symptoms.
Theories/Speculation
Elemental diets are liquid formulations that contain the basic building blocks of foods. Your digestive system does not need to break these foods down into smaller substances, which makes these diets suitable for people with severe IBD. The synthetic formulations of elemental diets include vitamins and minerals, simple carbohydrates, amino acids and small amounts of essential fatty acids, says Juanito C. Taboada, M.D. and Joseph M. Miller M.D., in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Taboada and Miller say that elemental diet formulations produce small quantities of fecal matter and meet all of your nutritional needs with minimal demand on your digestive system.
Methodology
Your doctor can put you on a home elemental diet that includes you consuming a chemical formula as your only food source. Depending on your condition, you might also be able to eat pure sugar, salt and oils in addition to the formula, according to the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders. However, if you cannot ingest the formula, your doctor might insert a feeding tube through your nose and down into your stomach to help you consume the elemental diet at home or in a hospital setting.
Clinical Data
The University of Birmingham's Institute of Child Health in the United Kingdom conducted a study under head researcher A. Papadopoulou to determine the effects of elemental diets and prednisolone, a synthetic steroid, in children with acute Crohn's disease. Subject participants were either treated with an elemental diet or prednisolone for six weeks. At the end of the study, the researchers concluded that elemental diets were better at initiating remission of acute Crohn's disease than prednisolone treatments. The researchers also found that the children on the elemental diets experienced improved linear growth and had better nutritional statuses than the children who received the prednisolone treatments, as published in the journal Acta Paediatrica in 1995.
Considerations
Adhering to an elemental diet might become cumbersome for you to follow. Try drinking your formula ice-cold for best taste. Also allow yourself to see others eating food, to learn to handle your situation well in social situations.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: IBD
- American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders: Sticking With an Elemental Diet
- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: Clinical Experience With an Elemental Diet
- PubMed.gov: Remission Following an Elemental Diet or Prednisolone in Crohn's Disease
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Crohns Disease
