Boswellia serrata also known as Indian Frankincense is a herb that has been used for 4000 years in Indian Ayurvedic Medicine, it is an excellent anti-inflammatory with no known side effects. The active ingredient is known as Boswellic Acid.

Boswellia has been shown to reduce inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease like Ulcerative Colitis, and other autoimmune conditions. It works like this –

1. Boswellia blocks the lethal pro-inflammatory enzyme 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX). A number of chemicals like 5-LOX released during the inflammatory response in the body contribute to the chronic inflammation in autoimmune disease. Blocking these pro-inflammatory chemicals reduces symptoms of inflammation and helps taper the autoimmune response.

1. The active ingredients of Boswellia, Boswellic acids, also decrease the activity of another pro-inflammatory enzyme known as human leukocyte elastase (HLE). HLE and leukotriene levels are increased in many inflammatory diseases and allergic reactions.

To date, Boswellia is apparently the only substance known to reduce levels of both HLE and leukotrienes.
In studies of patients with inflammatory bowel disease – ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, Boswellia reduced gastrointestinal inflammation and tissue damage.

In one particular study twenty patients with chronic colitis received Boswellia gum resin (900 mg per day for 6 weeks) and another 10 patients were given sulfasalazine (3 g per day for 6 weeks). Out of 20 patients treated with Boswellia, 14 went into remission (70% compared to 40% for sulfasalazine).

In another study on Crohn’s the safety and effectiveness of Boswellia extract was compared against mesalazine for the treatment of 102 patients with active Crohn’s disease in an eight-week randomized, double-blind study. The primary clinical outcome measured was the change in Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (CDAI). After treatment with Boswellia extract (3.6 g per day) the average CDAI was reduced by 90, compared to a reduction of 53 for the mesalazine group (4.5 g per day). The authors concluded that the Boswellia extract was as effective as mesalazine.

Considering the lack of side effects and safety profile of Boswellia, It would seem that this herb could well be a better option than Mesalazine.

So Boswellia seems to be safe to use and effective in treating Ulcerative Colitis. It also has no currently known drug interactions, so it is well worth taking if you have Ulcerative Colitis. Get some here.

Colitis Breakthrough!

Gluten or more specifically Gliadin which is a glycoprotein found in Wheat, Spelt, Barley  and Rye is an intestinal irritant that causes allergic reactions. The body actually reacts to it as if it were an invader. Gliadin  also upregulates a gut protein called Zonulin which adversely affects tight junctions in the gut resulting in increased intestinal permeability otherwise known as a leaky gut.

In Ulcerative Colitis anything which irritates the gut and increases intestinal permeability is going to lead to more inflammation in the Colon which just what you don’t want. You can test specifically for an intolerance to gluten and gliadin with an Igg antibody test, which can be a useful confirmation if you are not sure if Gluten is affecting your symptoms. However if you have Colitis you already have a leaky gut and it is quite likely that avoiding all gluten grains will help your symptoms.

Eating Gluten free is much easier these days, almost anything you can think of that is made with gluten grains can now be purchased in the supermarkets gluten free. But you do have to watch out when buying ready made food because you’d be surprised how often wheat and gluten are hidden ingredients in many food products.

Colitis Breakthrough

Homocysteine, is a non protein amino acid in the blood produced by your body. Elevated Homocysteine levels(H levels) are an inflammation marker. Your H level is the best single indicator of whether you are going to live a long and healthy life. A high H level is a greater risk factor for heart disease than cholesterol. High Homocysteine has been directly linked to over 100 diseases. It is therefore not a big surprise to find that people with autoimmune diseases like Ulcerative Colitis are more likely to have a high H level.

Homocysteine arises during a process called Methylation in the body, Homocysteine itself isn’t bad – your body turns it into two beneficial substances Glutathione which is an antioxidant and SAMe which is a nutrient used in the brain and body, the trouble is that if you are low on B vitamins the enzymes which convert Homocysteine into these beneficial substances don’t function efficiently. This can lead to elevated H levels in the blood which is bad. The good news is that is it relatively easy to reduce H Levels in a matter of weeks by supplementing with B vitamins, trimethyl glycine and zinc. The Vitamins required to reduce H Levels are –

• Folate
• B12
• B6
• B2
• Zinc
• TMG

A combination of the above vitamins taken will rapidly reduce excessive H Levels in a matter of weeks, which will in turn help reduce inflammation in the body, which will help with Ulcerative Colitis. You can get a test to measure Homocysteine levels here.

The active ingredient in the yellow spice Turmeric – Curcumin works as well as anti-inflammatory drugs, but with no side effects. It has been used for 4,000 years in Ayurvedic Medicine to treat a variety of symptoms. It is also well known as an antioxidant. Like non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs it blocks the formation of two pro inflammatory prostaglandins, as well as leukotrienes. It acts as a mild Cox-3 and Lox inhibitor.

In one double-blind, placebo-controlled study,  people whose ulcerative colitis was in remission received either curcumin or placebo, along with conventional medical treatment for 6 months. Those who took curcumin had a relapse rate that was much lower than those who took placebo.

In a 2006 study, patients with quiescent (inactive) ulcerative colitis received curcumin to prevent a relapse. Results indicated that curcumin was a safe and effective for UC maintenance therapy. Another study indicated that when mice were exposed to irritants that evoked colitis symptoms, the mice that ate a diet rich in curcumin had less intestinal inflammation.

Apparently there is no evidence of any downsides to taking curcumin, even in doses as high as 8g a day. It has been used for over 4,000 years in Indian Ayurvedic Medicine with no known side effects. So add some Turmeric to your dinner or get some Curcumin supplements, it seems it can only help.

Meals That Heal Inflammation

Colitis is Inflammation of the Colon. When you get treatment from the Doctor, the main method is the use of anti-inflammatory drugs. These either calm down the inflammation in a specific area for which Mesalazine is commonly used, or to turn off the body’s immune reactions with a drug like Azathioprine. These are effective ways of treatment but Drugs do tend to have side effects when used long term and they are not addressing the root causes of the inflammation.

Inflammation is the immune systems way of alerting you to that fact that something in the body is wrong. The symptoms are often localised, however the problem is a whole body issue which is just showing up in one place – probably where there was already a genetic predisposition to weakness. Often with Colitis there is tiredness associated and also aching joints which are signs of the inflammation showing up in other areas of the body, these symptoms are low level minor pains but are a sign of the underlying unbalance. The body has shifted in to a state of high alert and chronic inflammation is present, when this builds up to an excess then suddenly a Flare Up arrives. It may be stress, or something you eat or drink that triggers the Flare but the underlying situation was already there and these events just triggered things to break out.

The trigger mostly gets the blame for the Flare up, but really it is just the last straw in a cascade of events. Obviously if you know what has triggered a flare before then it is well worth avoiding that thing but it is also very necessary to address the underlying situation.

A lifestyle that has high stress, little exercise and bad diet sets the scene for inflammation to build up inside and when this reaches an unsustainable level then disease symptoms – a flare up – appears. Conversely a lifestyle including moderate exercise, time for relaxation and an anti-inflammatory diet will build up health reserves and reduce levels of inflammation in the body as a whole, thereby reducing the probability of a flare up.

Did you know that your digestive tract is the size of a small football pitch?

If you’ve got colitis then this football pitch sized bodily organ has become damaged at one or various points along its enormous area. When the cells of the digestive tract become damaged it makes the digestive tract more permeable – hence the term Leaky Gut. When your gut is leaky like this it can let through the digestive wall some incompletely digested food particles.

Some research has been done into the link between IBD and Intestinal Permeability and one study found that Crohns patients had a six fold increase in intestinal permeability.

A leaky gut can lead to food sensitivities as any food particles leaking out of the digestive tract may cause an immune response in the body, leading to inflammation. Elemental diets where patients are fed a diet of pure nutrients have been shown to bring about a reduction in intestinal permeability. Researchers have also found that low-allergenic diets where grains and dairy are avoided can produce welcome relief from Ulcerative Colitis.

How to fix a leaky gut?

There are several steps we can take to heal a leaky gut –

• Initially identify any foods you may be allergic to or have intolerance to. Try a York Test which is a pin prick blood test that you can do at home. A small blood sample is sent away to a lab where they test it to look for any anti bodies to specific foods. It will tell you if you have any food intolerances.
• Next you need to get some probiotics in there, to correct any in balance between the good and bad bacteria, and correct any Dysbiosis in the gut. You need more good than bad!  A good Probiotic is Primal Defense or VSL-3. Probiotics have been shown in several medical studies to be very helpful in the treatment of colitis.
• Get some l-glutamine powder, glutamine is an amino acid which is very useful for healing the digestive tract. Glutamine is the preferred ‘fuel’ for the cells lining the mucosa of the small intestine called enterocytes. These cells have the ability to take up glutamine directly rather than waiting for it to be supplied through the blood stream. Glutamine is also required for the production of both intestinal mucus and Secretary Immunoglobulin Type A (SIgA). As a result of these functions, a good supply of glutamine will help repair  a leaky gut. Glutamine also has the benefit of helping to prevent bacteria from getting from the gut to the bloodstream. You can buy l-Glutamine powder, or try juicing Cabbage as this is a good source of Glutamine.

Ulcerative Colitis Breakthrough

A study at Pennsylvania State University on Mice showed that there is a connection between Vitamin D deficiency and Ulcerative Colitis. Vit D deficiency was shown to worsen Colitis symptoms, and also treatment with Vit D for only two weeks brought about an improvement.

Vitamin D deficiency is also known to be more common in people who have inflammatory bowel disease. There is also research showing that Vitamin D helps in other autoimmune conditions like MS and Arthritis.

So why do people become deficient? Well we primarily produce our own Vitamin D from sunlight and the further you live from the equator the more likely you are to become deficient. There is also a correlation between incidences of Autoimmune diseases and the amount of sunlight people get.

Therefore more sunshine is a great idea, but in winter we need other ways to get it.

Oily fish are a good source of vitamin D, and you can take supplements as well. Apparently we need about 30mcg a day and if you eat a few portions of oily fish a week and get some sun every day for half an hour that should give you about 15mcg. Therefore supplementing with 15mcg of Vitamin D a day seems to be a good idea.

Too much sugar is really bad news for Colitis. There are several reasons for this –

• Excess sugar can cause fermentation in the gut, especially when you have Colitis and your intestinal bacteria are already out of balance. Excessive sugar will feed the bad bacteria in you and allow them to become more prevalent. You will notice this as excess flatulence to begin with gradually becoming fouler smelling, until finally Colitis symptoms will increase and before you know it a Flare Up has begun.
• Damage caused in the body by high sugar levels is known as glycosylation and damages proteins in ways that can cause them to behave in the wrong way, which leads to the body’s immune system identifying them as enemies and attacking. Proteins damaged in this way are known as Advanced Glycation End Products, and the more of them there are inside you the more likely your immune system is to attack them thus causing inflammation and Colitis. It is not just normal sugar – sucrose that you need to be careful with, fruit sugar – fructose in excessive amounts causes the same problems. Many fizzy drinks and sweets have fructose in them as well as normal sugars you would expect.
• Insulin Resistance, which is caused by excess sugar intake, also causes excessive inflammation in the body.

Colitis is thought to be an autoimmune disease. So what is an autoimmune disease?

Autoimmunity is where the body’s immune system reacts against the body, causing excess inflammation in certain parts of the body. In the case of Colitis it is in the gut. But why does it do this?

Our immune systems are designed to react to both unwelcome outside invaders like bacteria and other pathogens, but also to malfunctioning cells, like cancer cells. Unfortunately sometimes the immune system can attack healthy cells, which results in autoimmune diseases like Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s.

One way of looking at the situation is to assume that the immune system is over reacting to things and that it needs to be calmed down, and not boosted in any way. However a better way to describe the condition of Autoimmunity would be to look at it as a situation where the control mechanisms as to where the immune system is directed have malfunctioned, the immune system is still working fine however it is being mis-directed in its efforts and sent to some incorrect places where it is not required. This then leads to problems as the body starts attacking itself. If this is the case then squashing the immune system with drugs is most likely not the best course of action. Perhaps if we can understand the cause of the malfunction we would be better able to solve the problem.

One of the most popular theories as to the current increase in Autoimmune conditions is that we live in too clean and hygienic environments and that we don’t get enough exposure to bugs and bacteria. Most bugs and bacteria contain beta-glucans in their cell walls and these beta glucans stimulate the immune system in such a way as to build up normal healthy immunity. Beta Glucans appear to act as immune system modulators, and may be of use in correcting a misbehaving immune system. Beta Glucans are naturally found in foods like Shitake Mushrooms and Oats.

The balance between Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids is another factor that in implicated in gut inflammation. By increasing the intake of Omega 3 in proportion to Omega six the guts over reactivity is turned down. In our modern diet we generally ingest far more Omega 6 than Omega 3; they should ideally be in an equal balance. So eating oily fish and taking omega 3 supplements is a good course of action.

So what is the best Diet to eat if you have Ulcerative Colitis ?

Personally I find that eating like a Cave Man helps my symptoms to pretty much vanish!

Take a look at the video below for a quick and concise introduction to Paleolithic eating.