Crohn's Disease Dietary Therapy

Gut Bacteria

The lower intestine, especially the colon, is home to huge numbers of bacteria of over 1,000 different species.  Newer research techniques have expanded our knowledge of these bacteria and how they act in the gut.  For the most part, they are very beneficial and provide many health benefits for us.  This is particularly true when they receive the proper fiber nourishment from the foods we eat.  For Crohn’s patients, some of these colon bacteria may be enemies.  Most Crohn’s patients have an abnormal makeup of the gut bacteria whereby there is a predominance of these bad bacteria.  It is these unwanted bacteria that invade the wall of the gut and begin the inflammatory Crohn’s process.  No one can get rid of these bad bacteria entirely.  But we can encourage the good bacteria to thrive thereby reducing the importance of these bad bacteria. This is done by increasing fiber ingestion.  When the good bacteria thrive, the bad bacteria are suppressed.  In addition, certain substances are produced by these good bacteria that actually strengthen the bowel wall.  These are called short chain fatty acids (SCFA).  These are the nutrients for the cells that line the colon.  They also acidify the colon, which is a very good thing and helps suppress the growth of some bad colon bacteria.  It makes sense to encourage the production of as much of these SCFAs as possible.