I am starting a blog on living with Crohn's disease, focused on my 25 years experience as well as the continuing challenge to be a champion and not a victim of this awful disease
The Basics: Fortunately there are many good websites and blogs out there on the disease so I don't need to cover the basics. For starters I recommend the Mayo Clinic websiteand the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Americafor excellent information.
Make sure to check out the "I'll Be Determined" section to help you become more informed and take an active role in the decisions you have to make living with this disease.
So why another blog? Because there are so many unknowns still out there about the disease and one area that needs more attention is the current trends in the food industry that affects us. Yes, it's been made clear that genetics play a part in the Crohn's myster, that an environmental trigger ( such as a virus or chemical exposure) may have initiated the disease and that what you eat does not cause the illness. Or does it?
This is the topic I will start with, the one that keeps repeating in my life, and through recent research and experience, I have found some truths for me that need to be shared. As for other topics, we will see where this blog journey takes us, but there is so much good info out there that often I will direct you to other sites for that already established information.
Credentials: 25 years of experience taking a very assertive, active role in the decisions on my health and battling this disease. Taking an assertive role means being informed and I will give documentation and resources/ references for the information I share. I have an inherent drive to learn and be informed and want to share my many hours and research with others.
Why choose the topic of the current trends in the food industry? There are two food industry related issues that are being currently researched. One is the issue of whether Crohns disease is really an autoimmune disease or is it a micro bacterial disease caused by a difficult to study bacteria called MAP Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, which is found mainly in the dairy industry as a disease in cattle called Johnes disease.
The other food related issue is the exponential exposure our society is being subjected to the "flavor enhancer" called MSG or monosodium glutamate and the food industries extreme efforts to hide this addictive substance and resist labeling it in our food and household products
History of Crohns research. (the foundation of my topic, but if you are not into history feel free to skip forward to the heart of the issue**)
History of scientific research for cause of Crohn's
With the disease comes an inherent nature and often times what looks like an obsession with food. It is a natural tendency to look for cause and affect and in the early research years the science and health industry studied this process searching for answers. In the early 1900's, the disease we call today "Crohn's disease" was characterized as an infectious disease, specifically intestinal tuberculosis. (resource: Para website). Researchers in the 1900's looked for sources of the infectious bacteria and a correlation with Crohn's disease A lot of studies looked for a food source of the bacteria. There was a strong theory basis for the research that couldn't be fully proven with the scientific limits of that time. "However, by the early 1930's, definitive classification (proof) that this disease was infectious was not forthcoming. More specifically, when Dr. Burrill B. Crohn failed to prove an infectious cause in 1932, the disease became formally known as "Crohn's disease" (named after Dr. Crohn) and the search for an infectious cause was largely discontinued. As a result, Crohn's disease research has for many years been almost exclusively concentrated in "immunology" - and finding ways to "calm the overactive immune system" in Crohn's patients - immune systems which were overactive due to "no known cause." (resource: Para website)
Nevertheless, beginning in the 1980's, a small core of highly regarded and dedicated researchers in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and other countries valiantly began again - in the face of contrary opinion in the medical community, and despite low-level to nonexistent funding - the search for an infectious cause for Crohn's disease.
(this group called PARA continues to). ... amass scientific evidence that suggests an etiological connection between Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), and Crohn's disease. I will cover more of this in detail a future blog
**Start here if you skipped Crohns history
The other food issue.
The food industry is running rampant finding ways to make processed food taste good and compete for sales. This change occurred with the trend to lower salt in our diets to be heart healthy so they turned to flavor enhancers to substitute for salt.
But we have traded one problem for even a greater one.
Msg is the main enhancer of choice and now I would hazard to say it's in over at least 75% of all processed foods. Probably higher. And the food industry is doing everything it can to not have to put it on the label. The newest marketing strategy is to now say they are using heart healthy sea salt. But beware. If it has the ingredient sea salt listed then it may have a hidden msg derivative also. Scientists have broken out the addictive component of msg called glutamic acid and it doesn't fall under food labeling requirements. I found this out last week when I bought a well known brand of nuts and after reading the label thought it safe.
I was so sick. At first I couldn't stop eating them (hmmm. Should have caught on there). Then I had a full blown gut attack for three days. The worst I have had in months. And I know what causes " those" symptoms. So I started researching again. And found out why that can if nuts could have msg in it or " glutamic acid" without labeling it.
Here are websites you need to study to understand the msg issue. They have lists of foods with alternative names for msg and also explain the sea salt issue.
Note: Research is showing this is affecting many of our bodies systems and has been connected to allergies, asthma, autism, auto immune diseases, high blood pressure, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and many other problems. This is because msg affects the brain and nervous system. The "computer" that runs all of our other body systems
Go to msgtruth.net for the full story including list of related illnesses, list of alternative names for msg, see the food "codex" which is an international food standard that lists all the foods that "glutamic acid" is allowed to be added to (this one is really scary), list of companies that add msg to their food, safe foods ( which is a short list and you can't always trust "organic" foods, and the new issue of sea salt labeling.
Be informed!
What's next for me? I am a bit overwhelmed to say the least. I thought I could be in control of what I eat. Now I need to figure out how to take control again. After 25 years of an aggressive illness I am coming near the "end of my rope" so to speak. My doctor (who is wonderful) says I can't afford to have another surgery. After many surgeries I don't have much gut left to give up!
So stay tuned as I try to navigate these treacherous waters and find a safe way through to wellness. There has to be hope and where there is a will there's a way!
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