High carbohydrates consumption and inflammatory bowel diseases

A.M. El-Tawil

Department of Surgery, University Hospital Birmingham (United Kingdom)

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• Gastroenterology

High consumption of potatoes, soft drinks, cornflakes, chocolates, mushrooms and other common examples of complex carbohydrates in the western side of the globe is significant. Similarly, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis) are also prevalent in these regions.
Evidence exists to support that factors, such as lack of zinc (it is common in patients with IBD, in particular Crohn’s patients) may significantly affect the activity of some enzymes, such as, disaccharidases and other digesting enzymes of carbohydrates and that would lead to the recruitment of incompletely digested carbohydrates to the terminal ileum and continual stimulation of the immune-response accordingly. This concept may explain the observation of the existence of higher significant percentage of severe disease in Caucasian patients with IBD comparable with the respected Asian patients who consume less.

Corresponding Author: A.M. El-Tawil; e-mail: atawil20052003@yahoo.co.uk

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