uBiome | Sequencing the Human Microbiome. Paleo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Paleo-Guide-to-Australia-120212.pdf. Life Without Bread: How a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Can Save Your Life (9780658001703): Christian B. Allan, Wolfgang Lutz. Home Page. Main template. Vitamin D supplements could fight Crohn's disease. A new study has found that Vitamin D, readily available in supplements or cod liver oil, can counter the effects of Crohn's disease. John White, an endocrinologist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, led a team of scientists from McGill University and the Université de Montréal who present their findings about the inflammatory bowel disease in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. "Our data suggests, for the first time, that Vitamin D deficiency can contribute to Crohn's disease," says Dr. White, a professor in McGill's Department of Physiology, noting that people from northern countries, which receive less sunlight that is necessary for the fabrication of Vitamin D by the human body, are particularly vulnerable to Crohn's disease.
Vitamin D, in its active form (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D), is a hormone that binds to receptors in the body's cells. Dr. White's interest in Vitamin D was originally in its effects in mitigating cancer. What Vitamin D does Dr. New Probiotic Combats Inflammatory Bowel Disease. You know the probiotics in your peach yogurt are healthful, but now it appears they may also be a powerful treatment for disease. A genetically tweaked version of a common probiotic found in yogurt and cheese appears to be an effective therapy for inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
It may also prove to be useful in colon cancer, another disease triggered by inflammation. Northwestern Medicine researchers deleted a gene in the probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus and fed the new form to mice with two different models of colitis. After 13 days of treatment, the novel probiotic strain nearly eliminated colon inflammation in the mice and halted progression of their disease by 95 percent. The study was published Jan. 31 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Such gene targeting in a probiotic bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus offers the possibility of a safe, drug-free treatment in the near future," he said.