ulcerative colitis

[Dr Anton Bungay]

I am afraid there is no special diet for ulcerative colitis. If a patient is flaring up and the disease is active we sometimes suggest avoiding lactose as it is poorly absorbed but this is not the cause of the colitis and the disease needs to be put into remission with appropriate drugs. Any individual may notice certain foods give them more gas and looser bowels and these are common in IBS patients and so any IBD patient should look at whether avoiding FODMAP foods helps them but this is not a treatment per se for active colitis

[Julie Thompson]

Hi
We do not have any diet for colitis that will put your disease into remission unfortunately. Dietary advice is provided to give symptom improvement only. Advice that is ‘general’ for ulcerative colitis when your colon is inflamed is that it may be worth reducing the amount of fibre in your diet but, with any changes in your diet, you should seek advice from a registered dietitian who will take a good history and can take into account your personal needs. If your colitis is in remission (for example you have No inflammation) you may have functional bowel symptoms - similar to those symptoms for IBS, these symptoms can be helped with a Low FODMAP diet – this is used to identify which foods are causing your symptoms. It is important for ulcerative colitis to have as much variety of fruit and vegetables as your gut can tolerate in the long term so the Low FODMAP diet may help you identify the problem foods and hopefully improve the variety of your diet. The Low FODMAP diet can also be tailored to exclude lactose as well if this is a problem. This diet does again need to be provided by a registered dietitian as the diet and reintroductions can be a little complicated. As you are going away and might not see a dietitian in time you might find the following link useful – but do seek a referral to a dietitian as soon as you can through your consultant or GP. If you change your diet as your needs for certain micronutrients will be higher – such as calcium for example. If you need a low fibre diet for some time you may need a vitamin and mineral supplement however these need to be advised with respect to any other medications you are taking so again a dietitian will be able to help. In the long term if your symptoms improve with treatment you should aim to get back to healthy eating.

http://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/Reso ... %20IBD.pdf