.....So how is IBD treated? By trying to counter the inflammation and shut down the over-reactive immune system (the list of drugs is far too long to mention here, so an IBD patient – and their family – needs to get thoroughly educated in this condition because of all the treatment options), and by trying to maintain a healthy nutritional status. When it comes to which foods an IBD patient can eat, the answer is really up to them. As opposed to the era when IBD patients were forced to eat bland diets (“bland” as in white, tasteless, and depressing), it’s now felt that the patient is the best judge of what they can eat and what they should avoid. And as always, stress management helps with the management of IBD, too.
.....Finally, I want to end on a note of hope. Much research is now centred on getting IBD patients’ immune systems back on track, and I think the day is not long off when we will know not only what happens in IBD, but why it happens and how to stop it from happening. To that end, an interesting small study involved giving 29 patients with Crohn’s disease (who had not responded to traditional therapy) 3 feedings of 2500 whipworm eggs over an 8-week period. Before you gag on your lunch at this seemingly disgusting and unappetizing approach, please note that the reason for thinking it might work is that whipworm or trichuris trichura is a very common parasite in the undeveloped world, where IBD is very rare, so the researchers hoped that turning on the immune system with a common but relatively harmless parasite might stimulate a beneficial immune effect on bowel function in someone who already has IBD.
.....And they seem to be on to something because at the end of 6 months, 22 of the 29 patients reported excellent results, with 19 of them apparently being free of symptoms.
.....No, I don’t think a regular diet of worms is the final answer, but hey, it’s a step along the way of coming up with better therapies.

Dr. Art Hister can be heard on CKNW and other Corus Radio Network stations on House Calls on Saturdays at 10 AM, as well as seen on Global TV news on Saturday mornings at 9:20.