A great development

[bttory]

Hi all,

Some goods news. Using all of the advice you've given me, I was able to identify sweet potato as a food that was unknowingly causing me problems. I stopped eating them (I previously had one a day) and within a day or two my bloating reduced significantly, and with a week or two of weaning, I went from 6mg to 3mg daily of Entocort. I'm thrilled. I'm not sure if it is the oxalates (sweet potatoes are very high), but it has made a huge difference. I'm still not 100% normal, but I'll get there.

Also, in case it helps anyone else, I also started intermittent fasting 4 or so days a week. I eat from 1pm to 9pm, but no other times. I can't be sure if this helped with my recovery, but I do like it, and have to think a "break" on the digestive system is a help. Also, there are some studies that suggest autophagy may come into play. Who knows.

Finally, I took Gabes advice and stopped buying ground turkey with rosemary extract. I now buy from a place that sells pasture raised ground turkey (no extracts), and have limited my meat to that as well as venison and emu. So far, so good.

Just wanted to let you know, in case someone out there is struggling and hasn't tried to eliminate sweet potatoes yet. I miss them, but boy do I like making improvements. Thanks everyone for your help.

Brian

[Gabes-Apg]

Great news Brian
glad you are figuring out what works best for you

[tex]

Brian,

It's always nice to hear good news, and I hope you continue to improve.

I wonder if at least part of the problem with sweet potatoes might be the sugar content. We typically have trouble digesting sugars when our gut is inflamed (because we run short of the necessary enzymes to digest sugars). And fructose tends to cause more digestion problems for more people than sucrose and other sugars because unlike other sugars, fructose is unique — it can only be metabolized in the liver. From page 52 of Pancreatic Cancer — A Guidebook for Prevention:

It's important to note that glucose is the only sugar that triggers an insulin response.
Insulin is produced in response to an increase in the blood glucose level, but an increase in the blood fructose level does not cause an insulin response (Ancira, n.d.).60 This results in a completely different way of handling fructose metabolization.

Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver, and the process requires the enzyme fructokinase. Insulin allows glucose to pass from the blood into the muscles where it can be immediately burned as fuel. But because fructose does not prompt the release of insulin, fructose will not have the opportunity to be transported to cells where it can be burned as fuel, and because of that important difference, fructose digestion tends to result in the formation of more fat deposits.

Here's reference 60 from that quote:

60. Ancira, K. (n.d.). What is the difference between sucrose, glucose & fructose? Healthy Eating [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/differe ... -8704.html

When any undigested sugar reaches the colon, it's fermented there by bacteria, causing gas, bloating, and possibly D. While sweet potato only contains about a third to half as much fructose as most fruits, it contains enough to be a problem for those of us who have trouble digesting fructose.

Thanks for the update.

Tex

[bttory]

Brian,

It's always nice to hear good news, and I hope you continue to improve.

I wonder if at least part of the problem with sweet potatoes might be the sugar content. We typically have trouble digesting sugars when our gut is inflamed (because we run short of the necessary enzymes to digest sugars). And fructose tends to cause more digestion problems for more people than sucrose and other sugars because unlike other sugars, fructose is unique — it can only be metabolized in the liver. From page 52 of Pancreatic Cancer — A Guidebook for Prevention:

It's important to note that glucose is the only sugar that triggers an insulin response.
Insulin is produced in response to an increase in the blood glucose level, but an increase in the blood fructose level does not cause an insulin response (Ancira, n.d.).60 This results in a completely different way of handling fructose metabolization.

Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver, and the process requires the enzyme fructokinase. Insulin allows glucose to pass from the blood into the muscles where it can be immediately burned as fuel. But because fructose does not prompt the release of insulin, fructose will not have the opportunity to be transported to cells where it can be burned as fuel, and because of that important difference, fructose digestion tends to result in the formation of more fat deposits.

Here's reference 60 from that quote:

60. Ancira, K. (n.d.). What is the difference between sucrose, glucose & fructose? Healthy Eating [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/differe ... -8704.html

When any undigested sugar reaches the colon, it's fermented there by bacteria, causing gas, bloating, and possibly D. While sweet potato only contains about a third to half as much fructose as most fruits, it contains enough to be a problem for those of us who have trouble digesting fructose.

Thanks for the update.

Tex

Very interesting, thanks Tex. I have to assume bananas have more fructose than sweet potato, right? And I usually have 2-3 frozen bananas a day. Does that point to a different issue arising from the sweet potato? Or the fact that eliminating the sweet potato reduces my overall fructose intake to an acceptable level? All I know is reducing the sweet potato put me in such a better spot in terms of bloating (still there but less), gas (again, still there, but less), and the ability to drop down to 3mg/day of Entocort. Thanks as always for you great insight and willingness to help!

[tex]

I have to assume bananas have more fructose than sweet potato, right?

Yes, if you compare a 100 gram sample of each, banana has slightly more than 3 times as much fructose as sweet potato.

Does that point to a different issue arising from the sweet potato?

It might.

Or the fact that eliminating the sweet potato reduces my overall fructose intake to an acceptable level?

This might also be the case. I'm pretty sure that this issue (like many other issues associated with digestive problems) is dose-dependent. IOW, whether or not we react may be due to the total amount of fructose in our system at any given time, and this may be further moderated by other digestive issues that might also be present, and possibly unknown factors. IOW, we almost surely have a tolerance level, but that tolerance level may vary from individual to individual, and it's very likely to be affected by other influences in our environment (and in our body) on a continuing basis. So the trick is to limit high-fructose foods in our diet as needed, in order to avoid exceeding our tolerance level. As with many other issues associated with using diet to control disease, it's a balancing act that we have to learn based on our own individual situation.

You're very welcome.

Tex

[CathyMe.]

Great news. I am another one who LOVED sweet potatoes but eliminated them and my symptoms improved.

[bttory]

Thanks all for your great insight. I'll do some experimentation and let you know if I come across any developments that may be helpful for the group.

[jbrohlr]

You know, I started to suspect sweet potato was causing problems (I could have two large, sweet potatoes a day) so I just cut way back the last two days and this morning I had a BM that was as close to normal as I've had since my flair started 11 months ago.

Could have been the glucose, but I'm thinking high oxalate. I had a demonstrable reaction to almond milk when I tried it in a small amount, and I believe almonds are high in oxalic acid. I also have problems if I eat too much in one sitting or too much in the course of a day - SBS?

I realize I'm jumping the gun with this conclusion though. Has anyone else had improvement when reducing high oxalate foods?

John R.

[tex]

High oxalate foods are a problem for many people, but like fiber, this is a dose-dependent issue. In other words just don't overdo the amount consumed, and you should be okay. Two sweet potatoes a day is probably more than most people eat, but I could be wrong.

Tex