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:
The therapeutic potential of probiotic bacteria is vast but is just beginning to be tapped due to the huge diversity of the commensal enteric microenvironment. The intestinal bacteria flora contributes significantly to the pathogenesis of IBD, along with genetic susceptibility and mucosal immune dysregulation. Probiotics are likely to become an integral component of the therapeutic armamentarium of IBD in combination with traditional antiinflammatory and immunosuppressive agents. [boldface added]
The specific carbohydrate diet is designed to exert probiotic effects on the intestinal flora--in combination with traditional IBD medication. Until the perfect probiotic product is available, you can pick up a used copy of Breaking the Vicious Cycle through amazon for about $15 and have the future here now:)
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.
