The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point

Archive for the 'Inflammatory Bowel Disease' Category

Cannabis effective in patients with Crohn’s disease?

Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

Marijuana1-150x150Researchers at Tel Aviv University, in Israel, focus on the positive in this small study. (more…)

CAM use in the Manitoba IBD Cohort Study

Monday, February 27th, 2012

Researchers in Winnipeg, Manitoba surveyed the prevalence of CAM use in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. (more…)

Treating Crohn’s disease with cannabis

Monday, October 24th, 2011

Researchers at Tel Aviv University, in Ramat Aviv, Israel, describe the effects of cannabis use in patients suffering from Crohn’s disease. (more…)

Lowering hospitalizations for diverticular disease

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Diverticular disease occurs when pouches (diverticula) in the intestine become inflamed.

Researchers at University of Oxford, in the UK, examined the associations of a vegetarian diet and fiber intake with the risk of diverticular disease. (more…)

Review: Moxibustion for ulcerative colitis

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

Prof. Ernst and colleagues report, “Several studies have reported that moxibustion is effective in ulcerative colitis.”

But, is that enough? (more…)

Review: Chiropractic for gastrointestinal problems

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Are chiropractic treatments effective for gastrointestinal disorders?

Prof. Ernst has reviewed the evidence. (more…)

Oleic acid associated with lower risk of ulcerative colitis

Saturday, May 15th, 2010

Getting more oleic acids from olive or peanut oils for instance, might lower the risk of this inflammatory disease of the colon and rectum by as much as 90%, reported researchers at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, during Digestive Disease Week. (more…)

Nutraceutical therapy to treat juvenile Crohn’s disease

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

Most of patients with moderate-to-severe disease are in a constant catabolic state resulting in poor weight gain and growth failure.

Researchers at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, in New York City studied whether an exclusion diet combined with nutraceutical therapy could induce sustained remission of disease with weight gain, and enhance the ability for growth hormone to reverse growth failure. (more…)

Omega-3 tested to prevent relapse in Crohn’s disease

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Maintenance therapy for Crohn’s disease includes immunosuppressive drugs, with an associated risk of infection.

Might omega-3 fatty acids be an alternative? (more…)

Update: Probiotics in inflammatory bowel disease

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

Researchers from the University of Otago Medical School in Dunedin, New Zealand summarize the state-of-the-art. (more…)

Omega-3 not effective for Crohn’s disease, again

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

 That’s the conclusion from this Cochrane review. (more…)

Evaluating the role for omega 3 to treat Crohn’s disease

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Here’s what the Cochrane Review reports. (more…)

Rice as an allergen in children

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

Researchers at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Australia report the emerging importance of rice — a food commonly thought to be “hypoallergenic” — as a significant trigger of food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES). (more…)

Update on probiotics to treat inflammatory bowel disease

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia have reviewed treatment options.

Intestinal bacteria play an important role in the disease process of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Here’s what they say about probiotics. (more…)

The winner in CAM for 2007

Monday, December 31st, 2007

Omega-3 fatty acids, of course

There’s so much good stuff it’s hard to know where to start. (more…)

High-dose probiotic + prebiotic to treat Crohn’s disease

Thursday, August 16th, 2007

Earlier study results have been inconsistent. In this study, researchers from Nippon Medical School in Tokyo use higher doses to treat active Crohn’s disease (CD). (more…)

A new tool to test the biological effects of biofeedback, meditation, and yoga

Sunday, August 5th, 2007

OK. Stay with me on this.

Kevin Tracey, MD is director and CEO of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York. A well-respected researcher, Dr. Tracey discovered that the brain controls the immune system via the vagus nerve. Now he’s investigating the role of a molecule called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) as part of the immune system’s weapons against foreign invaders. TNF can cause pain and redness to an injury or infection. In excessive amounts, it can also cause shock and death.

What’s this got to do with CAM?

Maybe a lot.

(more…)

Using probiotics to lessen diarrhea after radiation therapy

Sunday, May 27th, 2007

Radiation therapy can disturb bacterial colonies in the intestines and cause radiation-induced enteritis and colitis, leading to diarrhea in cancer patients.

In this study, researchers at the San Camillo Hospital in Rome, Italy used probiotics to reduce this complication. (more…)

Probiotics effective in infants with enterocolitis

Sunday, May 13th, 2007

Necrotizing enterocolitis is a serious intestinal disorder. It affects 7% to 15% of very low-birth-weight (less than 1500-gram; 3.3 pound) infants. Death occurs in about 12 per 100,000 affected babies.

A review published in The Lancet concludes, “Probiotics might reduce the risk.” Although important questions remain. (more…)

Synbiotic 2000 fails to prevent a recurrence of Crohn’s disease following surgery

Monday, April 9th, 2007

Complications of Crohn’s disease (CD) lead to surgery in 70% to 90% of patients, and most of them experience a relapse.

Synbiotic 2000 consists of a mixture of probiotics and prebiotics. The rationale for its use in this study was to alter the bacteria in the colon and hopefully lower the CD relapse rate after surgery. (more…)