Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Ibs Natural

Question:
Has anyone had experience with the so-called soil-based organism probiotics like Nature's Biotics or Primal Defense? How about anti-inflammatory like Asacol or Colazide? I know that most traditional MD's recommend low fiber diets, but natural doctors and books recommend fiber supplementation during UC relapses. What has been anyone's experience?

Answer:
First on the Fiber issue.  Most Alternative Practitioners will recommend increasing fiber for EVERYTHING.  The standard credo used by most of the ones I've run into is that most if not all diseases are caused by a build up of some sort of substance (heard various descriptions of it from various people) on the walls of the colon and that this has to be cleaned out before health can occur.  (AFAIK no doctor has ever seen the drywall like coating that they claim almost all of us have lining our colons, I'd imagine that if it is as described, the docs shouldn't have been able to see the lining of the colon because of it, either that or the stuff they use to prep for colonoscopies is more effective than anything they sell). Peppermint vs. Spearmint question.  Peppermint is the most commonly used antispasmodic in England. (That formulation is not available in the US).  It is used most commonly for IBS.   For some people it helps quite a bit, and for some people it is a dud.  I find that peppermint (even in Altoids which is a pretty good source of it available cheaply and in most stores around here) is not quite as effective for me as Levsin/Levbid (which is an alkaloid from the henbane plant, unfortunately henbane has some other interesting alkaloids which tend to limit it as an herbal remedy for anything other than recreational purposes) but can offer some relief. I've heard much less about spearmint, but let me check my book of alternative remedies.  Here it says many herbalists prescribe spearmint and peppermint interchangably, although peppermint is considered to be more potent. The scientific literature on peppermint as an antispasmodic is mixed, and there probably needs to be some better studies done before a solid recomendation can be made.  It does seem that for the people for whom it works, it can do a pretty good job, it is just hard to know for whom it'll work.  ONLY TAKE peppermint preparations that are intended for human consumption!!!  Pure peppermint oil can cause cardiac arrythmias.  And peppermint is contraindicated for women with a history of miscarriages during pregnancy.  (And this book recommends all pregnant woman to use more dilute forms).