Weeding out the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ of probiotics for our patients

Dr. Hecht is Professor of Medicine and Microbiology/Immunology and Chief, Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Loyola University Chicago.  She is the former President of the American Gastroenterological Association. In a guest commentary in cooperation between the American Gastroenterological Association and Healio, Dr. Hecht offers advice on how health care professionals can best discuss probiotics with their patients. See the article

Homemade Yogurt Resolved IBS in Study

Consuming 2 to 3 cups of homemade yogurt daily led to a remission of IBS in 89% of participants in a study at two medical centers in eastern Kentucky presented at the World Congress of Gastroenterology at ACG2017. Although some study designs were noted, the experiment showed promise. See the review on Medscape here. 

FODMAP Diet Better for IBS

A low FODMAP diet was more effective at improving symptoms than general dietary advice (GDA) in a study published in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Gastrointestinal symptoms , stool frequency, and consistency improved after six weeks in the FODMAP group. However, both groups experienced reductions in symptom severity, abdominal pain, distension, consistency and frequency.

Children with diabetes at risk for celiac

Celiac disease is seen more frequently in youth with type 1 diabetes, but there are variations between countries in how often the two conditions occur together, according to an Australian study in the journal Diabetes Care. The study found 3.5% of young people with diabetes had celiac disease, with the prevalence ranging from 1.9% in

“Healthy Lifestyle Adds to Colon Cancer Survival”

“Colon cancer patients who had a healthy body weight, engaged in regular physical activity … and drank small to moderate amounts of alcohol had longer disease-free and overall survival than patients who did not,” Erin L. Van Blarigan, ScD, of the University of California San Francisco said during a press briefing prior to the American

Approaches to Treating Malnutrition in IBD

New study will compare the Mediterranean and specific carbohydrate diets The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) is sponsoring what it is calling the first-ever national study of the effect of dietary interventions to treat Crohn’s disease. The study will compare the Mediterranean-style diet with the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) in order to evaluate