STUDY OF GENES, ENVIRONMENT, AND MICROBES (GEM STUDY)
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
(Note: posts have been sparse lately due to new baby:)
In Canada, the GEM project has started. Unlike the "narrow" drug studies which dominate IBD research, the GEM study "aims to define how human genetics, environmental and microbial changes interact and contribute to the development of Crohn's disease."
To study all three factors (genetics, environment, and microbes--intestinal bacteria), 5,000 healthy siblings of Crohn's patients are being recruited. These siblings, who have a higher risk of Crohn's, will be followed for several years. The genetic, environmental, and microbial (GEM) status of these siblings will be assessed as follows:
(1) Genetic analysis - blood samples
(2) Environment - urine samples and questionnaires
(3) Microbial exposure - stool samples
It will be years before the study yields results. However, this type of combined research will provide more insight into Crohn's than attempting to study genetics, environment, or intestinal flora in isolation.
More information may be found on the study's website: http://www.gemproject.ca.
THE ORIGINAL SPECIFIC CARBOHYDRATE DIET BOOK IS REPRINTED!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Originally published in 1951 and previously only available in medical school libraries (or on ebay for $950+), the American Medical Association's journal, the Archives of Internal Medicine, reviewed the book as follows:
On the whole, the subject is treated comprehensively and objectively. The writers' style is clear and direct, and their approach to controversial aspects of the problems of celiac disease is fair and judicious.
[boldface added]
For those interested in the background of intestinal disease--before recent headlines, this is a great book. Only now is some of today's research money targeting the areas in which Dr. Haas's book left off.
VIDEO: CROHN'S BOY PAYS IT FORWARD WITH SPECIFIC CARBHOYDRATE DIET STARTING TIPS
Monday, October 20, 2008
In this video, "Crohn's Boy" explains common SCD mistakes. It's invaluable to someone starting the diet and gets the message across that because a food is "legal", it's not a reason to throw caution to the wind. If you have a chance, watch Crohn's Boy's other videos or visit his website.HUMIRA MARKETS FOR PEDIATRIC CROHN'S APPROVAL
Friday, September 26, 2008
(note: Roger and Tony are fictional characters. Always talk to your doctor regarding medication questions.)Covering the competitive landscape of biologic marketing since Feb. 2008 . . .
Please welcome back Roger Seco (RS) and Tony Ventris (TV). They will be assisting in segments on inflammatory bowel disease marketing.
Roger, Tony, tell us about your favorite marketers this season.
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Roger Seco (RS): This team has no fear, there's a devil-may-care attitude about them.Tony Ventris (TV): You're talking about the Humira marketers.
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RS: Right. They're trying to get approval for pediatric Crohn's disease--to give Humira to kids with Crohn's.
TV: It's barely been a week since the FDA issued an alert1 on all the biologics--Remicade, Humira, Tysabri, Enebrel. That's a tough environment to work in. What't the Humira teams' strategy?
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RS: Pure balls. They're going direct to consumer. They're running bogus stories on local TV news stations.
TV: These stations will do anything for revenue. But what's a bogus story?
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RS: Check out this "story"2 on Humira featuring 15 year old Taralyn.
TV: Not a bad story. Cute girl. Learning to drive. Talking about how bad her disease is--then cutting to "Crohn's doesn't exist in me anymore."
I like how the "Crohn's doesn't exist in me anymore" is positioned near contact information to enroll in clinical trials.
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RS: If I was a parent, I'd want to try that.
TV: Me too. But in reality, the drug is not approved for kids and the reported side effects continue to worsen.
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RS: So you go right to the consumer--give them the image of the little girl getting better. It tugs at the parents' emotions. The parents start asking their doctors for the meds. It's a proven formula.
TV: Brilliant. No FDA approval board can argue with a group of pissed-off parents--forget about your studies and statistics.
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RS: Do you think any news services will balk at carrying the stories?
TV: We'll see. They ran the first segment on the local ABC station Las Vegas, Nevada.
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RS: I'm impressed. They're not letting the FDA warnings let them down. Go team Humira!
TV: I'm also putting them at number #1 this week. They tend to run these pilots in Nevada and Florida, well keep a eye-out for the campaign spreading further.
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TV: Until next week .. .
Latest Standings:- Humira
- Remicade
- Cimzia
- Tysabri
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References
1 WebMD.com, Sept 4, 2008, Deaths Heighten Arthritis Drugs Warning Enbrel, Humira, Remicade, and Cimzia to Get Stronger Warning About Fungal Infections
2 ABC News, Las Vegas, NV, Sept. 15, 2008, Kids Fighting Crohn's Disease
MORE SCD COOKING ON YOUTUBE!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Paul Stocker continues to cook up SCD recipes on the Eating SCD blog, the latest additions antipasto as well as a video demonstrating how to make tomato and garlic relish.In addition, "redwriter1", has added a half dozen youtube videos including instructions on how to make SCD Sandwich bread. (Thank you to Jill for posting these video links on her blog.)
Tomato and Garlic Relish
SCD Sandwich Bread
SCD Legal 24 hour Yogurt
RECENT STUDY: DO ANTIBIOTICS CONTRIBUTE TO CROHN'S DISEASE?
Monday, September 8, 2008
Earlier this year, a team of researchers in Sweden attempted to answer the question of whether antibiotic use in children aged 0 to 5 increased the odds of having Crohn's disease later in life.
In recent weeks, the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology published their study titled Early-life exposures associated with antibiotic use and risk of subsequent Crohn's disease.
The researchers' thought process went as follows:- Disrupted gut flora contributes to Crohn's disease
- Antibiotics disrupt gut flora
- Do people who have antibiotics at an early age, and thus disrupted gut flora, have an increased chance of having Crohn's disease?
The study's conclusion: Yes, having antibiotics between ages 0 to 5 years is associated with a significantly increased chance of having Crohn's disease later in life.
To arrive at their conclusion, the researchers examined the medical records of 1,098 Crohn's suffers born between 1975 and 1997 who received a diagnosis before age 25.
For each of the 1,098 records of people with Crohn's, the researchers also examined the records of at least 5 "controls"--individuals with the same birth unit, year of birth, and sex. These 6,550 controls did not have Crohn's. In regards to antibiotics, children were only considered to have been given antibiotics if they were administered during a hospital stay--usually for pneumonia.
Of the Crohn's patients, 590 received a diagnosis prior to age 16 (matched with 3,527 controls) and 508 patients were diagnosed between ages 16 and 24 (matched with 3,023 controls).
As the authors write:
They also note another potential explanation--that early pneumonia is a marker of underlying immune dysregulation or a more direct causal role in causing Crohn's.
Although not conclusive, the idea of antibiotics contributing to Crohn's is logical given our current knowledge. If antibiotics are known to cause colitis (not ulcerative colitis), why wouldn't they contribute to more severe forms of bowel disease?
KEEP AN IBD JOURNAL (VIDEO)!
Friday, September 5, 2008
In the video below, "fernpixel", who has ulcerative colitis, describes how to keep a health journal--and why it's important. If you're not keeping a journal and suffering from Crohn's or ulcerative colitis or starting out on the specific carbohydrate diet, it is worth watching:
CCFA JOURNAL: ARTICLE ON PROBIOTICS
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The CCFA funded medical journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases recently published an article titled "Mechanisms of action of probiotics: Recent advances."As described in the text below, manipulating the intestinal flora is "likely to become" a key component in treating Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis:
Understanding probiotic action may permit modulation of the immune system, both locally and systemically. Knowledge of probiotics on the host immune system has entered a new and fascinating phase of research and progression in this field is likely to offer novel and useful means to modulate host immunity for protection from, or treatment of, a wide variety of human disorders, including IBD.
SCD COOKING VIDEOS
Monday, September 1, 2008
Paul Stocker, author of the blog Eating SCD, has posted several videos on YouTube. The video below shows how to mince garlic:(If you have not had a chance, Paul's personal experiences with Crohn's may be read in the about section of his blog.)
US OLYMPIAN WITH CROHN'S
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Five years after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease, Carrie Johnson, an Olympic kayaker, is competing in Bejing. More on the story may be read here.
