Study aims to crack Crohn's disease

About half a million Americans are affected by Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that has no known cause or cure, said Dr. Amy Brown, University of Hawaii associate professor of medicine.

"The gastrointestinal tract is gravely affected by diet," said Brown, in the Department of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. However, no diet is prescribed for Crohn's disease patients because little research has been done in that area, she said.

She hopes to fill the void with a dietary study sponsored by a $109,423 Broad Foundation grant to the John A. Burns School of Medicine. She is seeking 60 participants, 18 to 75 years old, with mild to moderate Crohn's disease.

She is asking Oahu gastroenterologists to help recruit volunteers and possibly join the research team. The study "could benefit the global Crohn's disease community," she said.

Participants will be placed either on a placebo or treatment diet, she said. Data from more than 1,000 articles relating dietary substances to the disease were combined into a balanced "Crohn's Disease Diet" for the clinical trial.

It's a matter of rearranging foods patients already eat based on some research indicating "it might be helpful to avoid certain items in the diet or include others," Brown said.

Excerpts courtesy of Honolulu Star Tribune

Steve - we have been very successful with dietary intervention with our Crohn's patients. Diet and Crohn's are inextricably linked. Research into diet is sparse because there is no money to be made with diet as the cure. It will be nice to see the results of this study, which will be positive as long as they use the right diet.