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Irritable bowel and food intolerance
My 23-year-old daughter has just been diagnosed with food intolerance caused by sugar and yeast, which has led to irritable bowel syndrome and weight loss. She is now on a very limited diet, so what can she do to rebuild her health and weight?
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is probably the most common of all the gastrointestinal disorders and is now so wide spread, it has become the second most common reason for days off work after the common cold. Put simply, what is happening is that the large intestine or colon is not functioning properly.
Typical symptoms include constipation or diarrhoea, excessive production of mucous in the colon, indigestion, flatulence, and cramping - and can be so severe, sufferers will stay at home rather than risk the embarrassment of dealing with these symptoms in public.
Food intolerances, as you have discovered, can exacerbate the symptoms so your daughter has done the right thing by eliminating these from the diet. She can now rebuild damaged intestinal tissue by taking a supplement that includes glutamine. This is single most abundant amino acid in the blood stream. It plays a key role in the digestive tract where it helps prevent the passage of bacteria and toxins across the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream and where it is also used as a food source by the intestinal immune cells. It also provides antioxidant protection to the intestinal cells and is needed to eliminate toxins from the intestinal tissues.
A struggling digestive system, trauma, infection, starvation, and chemotherapy treatments can all take their toll on glutamine levels that will then need to be rebuilt via supplementation. Nutrition Now’s I.D.S. (Intestinal Digestive Support) supplement provides L-glutamine with the anti-inflammatory herb, Boswellia, the fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) plant sugars which selectively feed up the good bacteria in the gut and folic acid which will also help rebuild digestive health. It costs £15.95 for 60 capsules from Victoria Health (0800-413596). Take two a day.