Treating ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease that damages your colon and impairs your body's ability to absorb nutrients, may involve making changes in your diet. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet, or SCD, aims to reduce intestinal damage and restore nutrient absorption by eliminating foods high in complex carbohydrates, which may encourage bacterial overgrowth in your digestive tract. The SCD emphasizes foods high in simple carbohydrates, which may promote a healthy balance of digestive bacteria and prevent the inflammation and diarrhea of ulcerative colitis.
Managing Symptoms
According to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, or CCFA, no special diet can relieve ulcerative colitis in everyone who suffers from the disease. However, dietary changes may help you control gas, diarrhea, abdominal pain and intestinal bleeding, the CCFA notes. The intestinal damage caused by ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease can result in a malabsorption of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. Conventional management of ulcerative colitis involves restricting foods that worsen intestinal damage, such as fatty or high-fiber foods, and replacing lost nutrients through dietary supplements. The CCFA notes that although many personal testimonials praise the SCD, clinical evidence has not verified that the diet is an effective way to manage ulcerative colitis.
Background
Biochemist Elaine Gottschall, M.S. popularized the SCD in the 1990s. Dr. Sydney Haas originally developed the diet to relieve the symptoms of celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes damage to the intestinal lining. Gottschall became a strong proponent of the SCD after the diet relieved her daughter's severe gastrointestinal symptoms. According to Gottschall, the metabolic activity of digestive bacteria produces gases and acids that may harm the digestive tract. Complex carbohydrates, including starches and some sugars, ferment in your colon and encourage bacterial overgrowth, which leads to a cycle of intestinal damage and nutrient malabsorption.
Significance
The inflammation of ulcerative colitis can cause abdominal pain and severe diarrhea due to frequent emptying of the colon, according to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse, or NDDIC. A diet that restricts complex carbohydrates may allow inflammation to subside and reduce ulcerative colitis symptoms, Gottschall claims. If you have acute pain, diarrhea and rectal bleeding, a very basic version of the SCD may give your colon time to heal. After your symptoms have resolved, you may include other foods on the diet's "legal" list as tolerated.
Dietary Principles
A diet high in simple carbohydrates, such as the single-molecule sugars in fruit, many vegetables, homemade yogurt, dried beans and honey, restores natural bacterial flora, Gottschall claims. Meat, poultry, fish, eggs and aged cheeses are allowed on the diet. Although milk, fresh cheese and commercial yogurt are not allowed due to the lactose, a double-molecule sugar, in milk, Gottschall encourages you to use properly fermented homemade yogurt to restore beneficial digestive bacteria.
Food Restrictions
The complexity of the SCD restrictions and its elimination of many nutritious foods may discourage some people from following this diet, the CCFA notes. The SCD excludes milk, whole grains, starchy vegetables such as potatoes or corn that contain complex carbohydrates. Fresh or frozen vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and leafy greens are allowed, but canned vegetables and many other processed foods are excluded. Consult your health care provider before beginning this program or any other specialized diet to manage your ulcerative colitis symptoms.
