Posted on 07/04/2024 3:05:42 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
New research may help explain recurrent Crohn's disease in children and open the door to new ways to treat or even cure the devastating condition.
Crohn's is a debilitating—and possibly life-threatening—inflammation of the digestive tract.
It's most common in adults but afflicts children.
New research suggests answers to why children with relapsing Crohn's endure repeated bouts even after appearing to recover. Rebecca Pierce found that children with relapsing Crohn's had a persistent disruption of their microbiomes—the collection of microorganisms that lives in our guts—even after inflammation was successfully controlled by treatment.
"Currently, the main goal of most Crohn's disease treatments is to manage symptoms," Jan said. "Our study found that though the symptoms have been alleviated the bacterial composition in their guts did not return to normal, which may be why these patients relapse."
Pierce compared biopsy samples collected from the intestines of children with Crohn's who had gone into remission with samples collected from a control group of children with no signs of Crohn's. The researchers found some big differences, with the children with Crohn's showing significant decreases in bacteria such as Streptococcus and increases in others, such as Oribacterium. (Oribacterium has previously been linked to gut microbiome disruptions.) Further, they observed notable changes in immune cells, such as an increase in the numbers of CD4+ T cells, which play an important role in inflammation.
Perhaps counterintuitively, the children with Crohn's also had stronger barriers of epithelial cells lining their intestines. This suggests that existing Crohn's treatments are effective but not fully addressing the underlying issues that drive the disease, the researchers say.
"Our study suggests that returning the bacterial composition to normal might help prevent these patients from relapsing and possibly cure them of Crohn's disease," Jan said.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
My brother has Crohn’s and he’s not doing very good
Both are effective if done properly.
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I hope he is in a local and/or online support group. Family is also very important, especially when a flare-up hits.
I wish him all the best.
It’s a horrible, painful disease.
I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in my mid 40’s.
Need to find a good gastroenterologist and then get him on a treatment plan that consists of biologics.
Our son got diagnosed when he was 15. When he was 18 he had surgery to remove some intestine. Been pretty much on since then.
Two teaspoons of medicinal strength Manuka honey a day, one at night and one in the evening, seems to ameliorate most dysbiosis issues—from what I gather from anecdotal accounts and my own experience.
ping
The study:
Probiotic Bifidobacterium longum BB68S Improves Cognitive Functions in Healthy Older Adults: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial
“After BB68S intervention, the relative abundances of Solobacterium and Oribacterium decreased significantly (Figure 5C).”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9824790/
What probiotics have it (from Amazon and elsewhere):
Life Extension Bifido GI Balance - Probiotics Bifidobacterium Longum BB536 (2 Billion CFU) Supplement – Support Healthy Gut & Digestive Health – Gluten-Free, Vegetarian – 60 Capsules
Supersmart - Bifidobacterium Longum (BB536) 6 Billion CFU per Day - Probiotics & Prebiotics Supplement
Vitamatic Bifidobacterium Longum Probiotic Powder - Digestive Health Support - 100 Gram (3.5 OZ) - 100 Servings (100 Billion a scoop)
I apologize. I was looking for the specific study strain, but the search engine brought up a slightly different substrain.
To be fair, both likely work similarly, but, technically, it is a close relative to the one listed in the study I put in post #11.
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