Inflammatory bowel disease
(IBD) is a condition in which chronic inflammation affects the gastrointestinal tract, usually the intestines and the rectum. There are two classic examples of
IBD: Chron’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Inflammation affects the digestive
tract differently in each of the diseases.
In ulcerative colitis,
inflammation occurs in the lining of the colon and rectum. This causes an array
of symptoms that range from abdominal pain and sounds, to blood in the stool,
nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and joint pain and swelling.
Chron’s disease is
characterized by inflammation in any part of the digestive tract. This means
that the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and
rectum are all potential areas of inflammation. The symptoms of this disease
may include: abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss, joint pain, rectal
bleeding, pain with passing stool, anal fistulas among others.
Colonoscopies are most
commonly used to diagnose both types of
IBD. Endoscopies may be done to diagnose Chron’s diease because the upper GI
tract may be affected in Chron’s patients.
Medical treatments for IBD include
anti-inflammatory drugs, immune system suppressants, antibiotics (to help
control infections in anal fistulas), and surgery. These treatments may be
supplemented with vitamins and minerals.
There are other, unproven
therapies unregulated by the FDA. One of these that I found especially
interesting because we’ve discussed it before (in PSIO 495) was curcumin. This
is the molecule found in turmeric, a spice. This compound has not been proven
to have any anti-inflammatory properties, but some IBD sufferers do use it.
Usually, it is not used alone but with other combinations of the medical
treatments listed above. Some believe this allows them to reduce the doses of
their medications, because the curcumin has anti-inflammatory actions in the
intestines. Only two studies have been done with regard to curcumin and IBD, so
much more research needs to be done to discover if there is a significant
correlation between relief from IBD symptoms and the use of curcumin.
Here’s a source for more
reading on Curcumin and IBD. It’s a review article published in 2011, so it’s
pretty recent.
Taylor RA, et al. Curcumin for
inflammatory bowel disease: A review of human studies. Alternative Medicine
Review. 2011;16:152.
Stay tuned in class for
more discussion on wacky alternative treatments of IBD!
References:
This is an excellent explanation of the disease, the symptoms, and treatments. I find it interesting that more curcumin research hasn't been done. Do you know how someone might contract this disease? Is it more of a genetic predisposition?
ReplyDeleteYes, there are definitely some genetic factors with this disease. It tends to run in families. However, it's a lot more than just genetics. There are environmental factors as well. Some examples would be stress, diet, smoking, etc. Research is being done also on socioeconomic factors as well as how geography influences IBD. It's seen with high prevalence in some areas of the world and then is present very little in other areas. All in all, I think that IBD is a complicated disease that is influenced by many factors.
Deletehelpful information about IBD! also it's so interesting that Curcumin seems to be a helpful treatment in different diseases,I have been using it for many years (as a spice by adding it to my food),without knowing the benefits that I could get from it.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any idea about Curcumin's side effect,since we all are just talking about its benefits?also do you know if your body get use to it after a while or would it still be beneficial for us, even if we use it for such a long period of time?
I've looked into some of the side effects of curcumin, and I can't find too much. In high concentrations, it may cause nausea or diarrhea. One paper suggested that it changes the way the body metabolizes iron, which could potentially cause an iron deficiency. Here's the info on the paper if you want to take a look:
ReplyDeleteJiao, Y.; Wilkinson, J.; Di, X.; Wang, W.; Hatcher, H.; Kock, N. D.; d'Agostino, R.; Knovich, M. A. et al. (January 2009). "Curcumin, a cancer chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agent, is a biologically active iron chelator". Blood 113 (2): 462–469. doi:10.1182/blood-2008-05-155952. PMC 2615657. PMID 18815282.
As for the body getting use to it, I don't really know. A lot of the studies that have been done are short-term studies that are looking at whether or not it has any significant medicinal effect within the body. I don't know if there's been any research about how it effects the body long term. I do know that our bodies adapt to certain pharmaceuticals and sometimes doctors have to adjust the dosage of medications for patients whose bodies are "getting use to" the meds. I'm leaning toward thinking that curcumin could be the same, but I really don't know as of right now.