Blog
Sugar may trigger inflammatory bowel disease by breaking down gut mucus
By Madeline Barron When I was seventeen, I discovered that I could make s’mores in the microwave. The recipe was simple: slam a marshmallow on to a graham cracker, heat for 20 seconds, and let it balloon. This occasional summer treat soon became a daily indulgence. My inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) diagnosis soon followed. IBD […]
Research
Vitamin D modulates intestinal microbiota in inflammatory bowel diseases
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), which differ in the location and lesion extensions. Both diseases are associated with microbiota dysbiosis, with a reduced populationof butyrate-producing species, abnormal inflammatory response, and micronutrient deficiency (e.g., vitamin D hypovitaminosis). Vitamin D (VitD) […]
News
Potential preventative treatment demonstrated for Crohn’s disease
By Jeff Hansen This research, led by University of Alabama at Birmingham researcher Charles O. Elson, M.D., professor of medicine, focused on a subset of T cells known as T memory, or Tm cells. The UAB researchers used a triple-punch treatment to remove Tm cells and increase the number of T regulatory, or Treg, cells. Both of these results were […]
News
IBD therapies not linked with adverse pregnancy outcomes
Click for Video Link She said they found no association between biologic, thiopurine or combination therapy and adverse outcomes at birth or within the first year of life. Additionally, she said physicians should continue providing IBD medication throughout pregnancy.
News
Potential new target to combat inflammatory diseases
WEHI’s Associate Professor Seth Masters and his research team discovered the compound could prevent upregulation of CD14, a key inflammatory protein. The discovery was recently published in EBioMedicine. At a glance Researchers have uncovered a drug-like compound that blocks a key inflammatory pathway, involving the immune cell protein CD14. In the laboratory, the compound reduced CD14 levels, limiting […]
Personal Story
‘Invisible and isolating’: Lauren Beasley’s battle with Crohn’s disease
The Silver Sands resident has been locked in a fight with the inflammatory bowel disease for the past two years, and as she describes, it has all but brought her life to a standstill. In that time she’s gone from energetic retail worker to unemployed and often bedridden, with both the financial and physical impacts […]
News
Gut research identifies key cellular changes associated with childhood-onset Crohn’s Disease
The results are an important step towards better management and treatment of this devastating condition. The research from the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Sanger Institute is part of the global Human Cell Atlas initiative to map every cell type in the human body. The findings reveal intricate cellular mechanisms of how the gut […]
Personal Story
My chronic illness was only taken seriously when it made me thin
By Hattie Gladwell “You look so poorly, you poor thing,” friends and relatives would say as a concerned look spread across their faces. I was 19 and had just been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease. I’d been underweight for years and the disease became so severe that it perforated my bowel. Because […]
Blog
Why don’t we take mental pain as seriously as we take physical pain?
By Mark D Rego One of the first patients I saw in medical school was an elderly man dying of metastatic colon cancer, which had spread to his bones and was excruciatingly painful. I was shocked and heartbroken when I saw him beg the doctor for more pain medicine than the modest doses he was […]
Research
Vitamin D regulates calcium in intestine differently than previously thought
In a healthy person, the body absorbs calcium to maintain strong bones and perform other important functions like helping muscles move and nerves carry messages between the brain and body parts. Vitamin D is critical for this calcium absorption from the intestine and for the function of the intestine. The study, published in the journal […]
Latest Articles
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BlogSugar may trigger inflammatory bowel disease by breaking down gut mucus
Mice fed sugar-heavy diets have worse colitis and more mucous-degrading gut bacteria -
ResearchVitamin D modulates intestinal microbiota in inflammatory bowel diseases
The main micronutrient deficiencies observed in patients with IBD are zinc, iron, vitamin B12, and vitamin D, contributing to a critical condition and influencing on well-being. -
NewsPotential preventative treatment demonstrated for Crohn’s disease
A potential preventive treatment for Crohn’s disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, has been demonstrated in a mouse model and using immune-reactive T cells from patients with Crohn’s disease.
