Flaxseed + Crohn's Disease, helpful?

Question

I've been reading a lot about Flaxseed and from what I have read, it can help with intestinal problems such as Crohn's Disease, anyone agree or have experienced any positive/negative changes?

Answer 1

Hi JCrew

Here are some tips on diet and other remedies to help correct the issue. Flaxseed I would test yourself. Everyone will respond different, but it should help.

Detoxification Therapy: To relieve inflammation of the GI track, consider administering an enema containing butyric acid two to five times a week. (Add one tablespoon of butyric acid to one quart of warm water.) Butyric acid helps to heal inflammation of the intestinal walls.

Diet: Healthy eating is of primary importance. Drink plenty of pure filtered water and increase your intake of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, and complex whole grains, such as such as amaranth and quinoa, as well as organic, free-range meats, poultry, and wild-caught fish.

Avoid all commercial, processed, fried, and nonorganic food, as well as alcohol, coffee, sugars, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, food dyes, milk and dairy products, wheat and wheat products, and refined carbohydrates. Do not eat saturated, trans-, hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated fats and oils. Instead choose from virgin coconut butter/oil, extra virgin olive oil, high lignin flax seed oil, and unrefined hemp seed, walnut, and sunflower oils.

Note: With digestive issues such as Crohn's, pureed vegetables could be an excellent option for you. Eating blended foods is less work for the system because the food is already partially broken down. Although it is unnecessary to chew blended food, it is still important to move each bite of food around in your mouth before swallowing to activate saliva's role in digestion.

In addition, undergo testing for potential food allergies and sensitivities and avoid those foods to which you test positive. Consider a rotation diet or elimination diet in order to further reduce the likelihood of food allergies.

Nutrition and diet are key players in the healing and elimination of imbalance and disease. For a complete, nutrition packed, whole foods eating plan, read the Natural Cures Healing Food Plan. Also, for some plagued with Crohn's Disease, a raw food diet could be extremely beneficial; for others, raw food may not be the best choice. Each person responds differently based on their individual chemistry and the depth of the condition being healed. To learn more, read about the Raw Food Diet. Numerous books are available to give you a bigger overview of how eating raw and live foods might be the perfect healing path. (See the recommended books section.) You can print out these full articles on the different diets for easy reference.

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet - A dietary approach that has been found to be effective in the majority of Crohn's disease cases is called the Specific carbohydrate Diet. It was developed by Elaine Gottschall, M.Sc., in an effort to help her four year-old daughter heal her own colitis symptoms, and is based on the research of the late Sidney V. Haas, M.D., who discovered that most gastrointestinal disorders are caused by an imbalance of carbohydrates in relationship to the microorganisms that naturally occur in the gastrointestinal tract.

According to Dr. Haas, when this relationship becomes unbalanced, the microorganisms grow unchecked and release toxins, causing malabsorption of food, and especially poor digestion of carbohydrates, a staple of the Western diet. To reverse this trend, Haas, and later, Gottschall developed the strict dietary regimen that comprises the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Based on her work with hundreds of patients with severe gastrointestinal disorders, Gottschall has found that the diet can yield complete results in as little as three weeks, but only if it is completely adhered to. Its eating guidelines are as follows:

Avoid: All processed, smoked or canned meats, breaded or canned fish, seaweed, processed cheeses, seeds, potatoes, yams, parsnips, chick peas, bean sprouts, soybeans, mung beans, fava beans, as well as all cereal grains in any form, including flour. Avoid milk, and all products commercially made from milk, dried milk solids, buttermilk or acidophilus milk, commercially prepared yogurt, sour cream and ice cream. Do not consume soymilk, instant tea, coffee, coffee substitutes, beer, cornstarch, arrowroot, chocolate, carob, bouillon cubes, instant soup bases, any product made with refined sugar, agar-agar, carrageenan, pectin, ketchup, molasses, corn and maple syrup, any flour made from legumes, and baking powder.

Eat: Fresh or frozen, preferably organic meats, poultry, wild caught fish, organic eggs, organic milk and products made from organic milk such as cheeses, homemade yogurt prepared at low temperatures from organic milk, and dry curd cottage cheese. Choose from a wide variety of freshly prepared, preferably organic vegetables. Vegetables and fruits are the main stay of this food plan. Use no canned foods with the exception of salt-free canned red salmon, white albacore tuna or sardines, only on occasion. Daily juicing of fresh green vegetables is an important addition for healing and offers you deep nutritional nourishment. With this and all illness, providing yourself with the most supportive nutritional profile possible is of primary importance.
Abide by this diet for as long as your symptoms persist. Adherence can be challenging, but maintenance is essential to obtain the desired results.

Herbal Medicine: Useful herbs include agrimony, bayberry, chamomile,geranium, goldenseal, lemon balm, marshmallow root, peppermint, plaintain, wild yam, and valerian. The traditional herbal remedy Robert's Formula is also recommended, consisting of comfrey, Echinacea, geranium, goldenseal, marshmallow root, poke root, slippery elm, and wild indigo.

Homeopathy: Useful homeopathic remedies include, Aloe, Allumium sativa, Arsen. Alb., Belladonna, Cantharis, Colchicum, Merc. Sol., and Nux vomica.


Best of health to you

Answer 2

Hi Jcrew,

I have had Crohn's Disease diagnosed for over a year and have read about 30 books on the subject. I also run the online community http://www.crohnsforum.com , which is a community for anyone affected by Crohn's Disease and other forms of IBD.

The previous answer was quite detailed, and from my reading I would also suggest taking extra omega-3 fatty acid. Most people's diets today are too high in Omega-6 and not high enough in Omega-3 fats. Someone thinking vegetable oil is a good fat is mistaken, as sunflower seed is actually an omega-6 fat (with several others... but that is the most common). Omega 3 fats are found in fish, flax seed, and canola oil among other items.

I take fish oil daily. I feel that it has helped, but the truth is I started taking this after I had surgery. I still feel that it has positive effects, and omega-3 is supposed to help fight depression (which is good for all, especially when we are fighting a disease like Crohn's!)

Omega-3 fats help reduce inflammation, while Omega-6 fats actually encourage it! Omega-6 fats are found in animals (so meat) and all processed food. A long time ago humans who ate a mostly plant-based diet had a ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fats of over 5-1. Now it is often the reverse, which is responsible for a lot of different health problems.

It is therefore recommended that you focus on increasing the amount of omega-3 you consume and decrease the amount of omega-6 you consume. At worst you should have a ratio of 1-1, but should really aim for something closer to 3 or 5 Omega-3 units for each Omega-6 unit. This can be done by eating more Omega-3 rich foods, taking extra Omega-3 as a supplement (like flax seed) or decreasing intake of Omega-6 foods (like meet and sunflower seeds). A list of the omega-3 and omega-6 found in some foods can be seen at: http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/omega-3-omega-6.html (scroll down a bit first to see the list) but just search online for omega-X foods to find some for each type of fat.

If you do take flax, I recommend that you try to take flax seed as a seed, or the ground up seed. This is the natural form of the item. If you can not do that then take the oil. If you still can not get this then take a pill as last resort. The seed though is the best form to take as this is its natural form and has not been affected in any way.

Hope that helps, and feel free to join us at www.crohnsforum.com if you have any other questions!