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Tag: crohn’s disease

  • Crohn’s Disease Gets Spotlight Thanks To “Man Of The Year” and Shaming Facebook Post

    Crohn’s Disease has been sort of a mystery that people just don’t talk much about.

    Whether it’s because not much is known about it yet or because it has to do with a rather embarrassing part of the human anatomy, Crohn’s disease just doesn’t get much play in the game of social awareness.

    However, thanks to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America’s “Man of the Year”, former left tackle for the New England Patriots Matt Light, and a recent informational Facebook post by a fellow sufferer, more details are coming to light.

    Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation, many times severe, of the digestive tract.

    Matt Light was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease back in 2001, but it wasn’t until it got so bad that it spread to his appendix in 2006 that he really started to come to terms with the extent of the severity that the disease could reach.

    That time when @muckbootco surprised Matt with new boots for #ShootOut2015

    A photo posted by The Light Foundation (@lightfoundation) on

    While Matt Light has publicity and a hero’s sympathy to make his journey with Crohn’s disease a little easier, not all sufferers are so lucky.

    In the case of Ste Walker, an everyday person living with Crohn’s disease, there could even be skepticism and apathy.

    Walker got fed up with people commenting that he looked normal and was trying to game the disabled assistance programs and wrote an illuminating, and shaming, Facebook post for those who don’t get it.

    People are too quick to judge these days, just because I look normal and speak normal, that doesn't mean I don't have a…

    Posted by Ste Walker on Sunday, October 25, 2015

    He wrote in part, “People are too quick to judge these days. Just because I look normal and speak normal, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a major disability.”

    He added, “I look like any normal guy my age, but that’s because I want you to view me like that. Look a bit closer, or ask me questions, and you will soon realize that I have a major illness.”

    Walker also posted photos of the physical detriment his struggle with Crohn’s disease has brought on.

    Do you suffer from Crohn’s disease or know someone who does? Can you share an experience?

  • Crohn’s Disease Linked To Additives Common In The Food We Eat

    A recent study has proven that additives found in food such as margarine, ice cream, and processed food products may be responsible for inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis as well as other illnesses tied with obesity and metabolic problems. The study focused on emulsifiers, which are chemicals used in processed food to improve food texture and to extend shelf life. They conducted the experiment using mice, feeding them emulsifiers diluted in food and water.

    Scientists found that emulsifiers change the composition of gut bacteria in the mice. It is believed by the researchers that it’s this change that leads to not only inflammatory bowel diseases, but also causes overeating thereby increasing the risk for type-2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

    Georgia State University microbiologist Bernard Chassaing claims that the effects seen in mice can be observed in humans as well. Many of their colleagues have disputed the research claiming that the doses of emulsifiers used on the mice (polysorbate 80 and carboxymethylcellulose) exceeds the levels of the additive that an average human consumes.

    The scientiists defended their research saying that while emulsifiers do not directly contribute to metabolic diseases like diabetes, it does directly cause overeating which is the leading cause of obesity-related illnesses. “We do not disagree with the commonly held assumption that overeating is a central cause of obesity and metabolic syndrome,” Georgia State immunologist Andrew Gewirtz said. “Rather, our findings reinforce the concept suggested by earlier work that low-grade inflammation resulting from an altered microbiota can be an underlying cause of excess eating.”

    It seems that history is also on Chassaing’s side, as it is proven that incidents of inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic syndrome started rising in the mid-20th century, around the same time that the use of emulsifiers became common practice.

    “We were thinking there was some non-genetic factor out there, some environmental factor, that would be explaining the increase in these chronic inflammatory diseases,” Gewirtz said. “And we thought that emulsifiers were a good candidate because they are so ubiquitous and their use has roughly paralleled the increase in these diseases. But I guess we were surprised at how strong the effects were.”

    The researchers responsible for the study are now preparing to conduct tests on humans. It’s currently unknown if the experiment will yield similar results when conducted on humans. However, if it does, then it seems Chassaing and his associates may have finally found the underlying cause of obesity.

  • Crohn’s Disease Linked to Common Virus

    Crohn’s Disease Linked to Common Virus

    Researchers in Sweden have tentatively linked Crohn’s disease to an enterovirus that is commonly found in the intestines. Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that can cause chronic diarrhea and stomach pain. The cause of the disease is not currently known.

    In a new study published in the journal Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology, researchers at Uppsala University investigated RNA viruses in children suffering from Crohn’s disease. Enteroviruses, those that infect human intestinal mucous lining, were found to be particularly prevalent.

    The researchers state that they found “significant amounts” of enteroviruses in the intestines of every child with Crohn’s disease they tested. A control group of children without Crohn’s desease were found to have few, if any enteroviruses. For children with Crohn’s, enteroviruses were also found in the nerve cell ganglia in the intestinal wall.

    Alkwin Wanders, a co-author of the study and a pathologist at Uppsala, stated that the enterovirus could be stored in nerve cells, and spread through the intestine using nerve fibres. He believes this could explain how Crohn’s disease is often periodic and affects multiple segments of the intestines.

    The researchers stress that their findings will need to be confirmed in larger studies, but that they believe the connection to be important. The study used only 24 children suffering from the symptoms of Crohn’s disease.