Fiber is good for you, except when it’s not

People suffering from inflammatory bowel disease could soon have access to personalized dietary guidelines to help them feel good, thanks new research how dietary fiber affects the disease.

The research team discovered that certain types of fiber cause an inflammatory response in some patients, resulting in worsening symptoms.

They are now working to develop a stool test to examine the microbes found in each patient’s gut to predict who will show the negative reaction so they can tailor diet recommendations and treatments for individual patients.

About 0.7 percent of the Canadian population One in 150 people has IBDincluding Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and is projected to rise to 1 percent by 2030.

IBD symptoms can include abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloody stools, weight loss, late puberty, and a long-term risk of colon cancer. The exact cause is unknown, but some risk factors include genetics, diet, environmental factors, and changes in gut microbes.

“We know that eating fiber has health benefits and promotes good gut health in healthy individuals, but IBD patients complain of sensitivity when consuming fiber quite often,” he says Heather Armstrongwho began research as a postdoctoral fellow at U of A and is now an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Manitoba Canada Research Chair in Integrative Life Sciences. “We really wanted to understand the mechanisms behind it.”

“By creating this stool test, we hope to be able to tell you how to adjust your diet to prevent flare-ups or further deterioration,” he says Eytan wineprofessor in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the U of A. “It’s a dynamic situation, so it’s possible that you should avoid a certain food now, in a few months you can eat it again.”

Researchers have found that certain types of fibers found in foods such as artichokes, chicory roots, garlic, asparagus and bananas are particularly difficult to ferment when certain microbes are absent or malfunctioning, as is common in IBD patients the case is.

Fiber has beneficial anti-inflammatory effects and aids in digestion in most healthy people, but researchers have found that selected unfermented fiber increases inflammation and worsens symptoms in some IBD sufferers.

“We want to start by figuring out why 20 to 40 percent of patients experience hypersensitivity,” says Armstrong, “while in the other half of patients, this fiber can actually benefit health and protect against disease and have very beneficial effects.” ”

Wine and Armstrong both warn that the new dietary guidelines will not replace drug treatments, but should complement them so patients can avoid flare-ups and get back into remission faster if they have inflammation.