IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) Affects 1 in 7 People Worldwide
FODMAPs and Irritable Bowel Syndrome: (for those of us who suffer from extreme digestion problems):
If your gut is upset often, you probably have an allergy to something you are eating. Keep a food journal for 3–5 days and record all you eat. the best way to find the troublemakers is to go to a very basic food plan. Monash University has food lists of high and low FODMAP foods.
From “Wikipedia”:
“FODMAPs or fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols[1] are short chain carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine and are prone to absorb water and ferment in the colon. They include short chain oligosaccharide polymers of fructose (fructans) and galactooligosaccharides (GOS, stachyose, raffinose), disaccharides (lactose), monosaccharides (fructose), and sugar alcohols (polyols), such as sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, and maltitol.[1][2] Most FODMAPs are naturally present in food and the human diet, but the polyols may be added artificially in commercially-prepared foods and beverages.”
From “The Monash website”:
“FODMAPs are a group of sugars that are not completely digested or absorbed in our intestines. When FODMAPs reach the small intestine, they move slowly, attracting water. When they pass into the large intestine, FODMAPs are fermented by gut bacteria, producing gas as a result. The extra gas and water cause the intestinal wall to stretch and expand. Because people with IBS have a highly sensitive gut, ‘stretching’ the intestinal wall causes exaggerated sensations of pain and discomfort.”
From “Online FODMAP training”:
Are you a patient suffering IBS and wanting to learn more about the 3 step FODMAP diet? If so, the expert team at Monash University has developed an online course to help you better understand your condition and how to safely follow a 3 step FODMAP diet.
The 5 module course is written with patients in mind, so there’s no jargon or complex language. We simply teach you in plain English about everything you need to know to understand your condition and to manage your symptoms using a FODMAP diet.
The course covers all the essential topics including:
- The importance of getting an accurate diagnosis of IBS
- What are FODMAPs and where are they found?
- How to implement Steps 1, 2 and 3 of the FODMAP diet
- Understanding whether your IBS symptoms are sensitive to FODMAPs
- What to do if your IBS symptoms do not improve on a low FODMAP diet
- Other therapies to help manage IBS symptoms.
From “It’s not just in the genes: the foods that can help and harm your brain”:
“Beyond thoughts, moods and memory, diet plays a clear and determinant role in brain ageing and the risk of developing Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, which affects 46 million people worldwide (and is projected to affect 130 million by the year 2050). When I started working in the field, most people understood Alzheimer’s as the inevitable outcome of bad genes, ageing or both. In 2018, it is clear that genes aren’t destiny, and ageing isn’t a linear path to unavoidable dementia.
Most people don’t realise that less than 1% of the Alzheimer’s population develops the disease due to a genetic mutation. These mutations are very rare and so is their outcome: an early-onset and particularly aggressive form of Alzheimer’s that develops when people are in their 30s, 40s and 50s. But the majority of the population doesn’t carry those mutations, and so the real risk for the rest of us is simply not determined by our genes.
While the blueprints for an individual brain do depend in part on DNA, recent discoveries have led neuroscientists to understand that genes load the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger. In fact, there is consensus among scientists that at least one third of all Alzheimer’s cases could be prevented by improving our lifestyle, from ameliorating cardiovascular fitness, to keeping our brains intellectually stimulated and, of course, eating better.
The human brain has evolved over millions of years to absorb specific nutrients and to function on a relatively specific diet. Now our society must also evolve, to attend to what our brains need to be fed. On a personal level, that’s for anyone pursuing a long life and a youthful brain to enjoy it. On a global level, that is millions of people who will have a chance to age gracefully with their mental capacities intact.”
