Archive for the ‘Gastrointestinal’ Category
Intestinal Dysbiosis
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
DESCRIPTION
Intestinal dysbiosis, the growth of unfriendly organisms or overgrowth of normally harmless organisms in the gastrointestinal tract, is a widespread but frequently unrecognized cause of chronic disorders throughout the body. Normally, more than 500 different species of friendly or neutral microflora live in the digestive tract; in fact, there are nine times as many bacteria in the digestive tract as there are cells in the human body! We couldn’t live without the help of our friendly microflora, which are called probiotics (pro-life). Probiotics perform numerous functions essential for our health including metabolizing nutrients, vitamins, drugs, hormones, and carcinogens; synthesizing food for intestinal cells; preventing unfriendly organisms from attaching to and colonizing the mucosal lining of the digestive tract; and stimulating normal immune responses.
Obesity
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
The simplest definition of obesity is an excessive amount of body fat i.e. being greater than 10% above ‘normal’ weight. In terms of body fat percentage obesity is defined as a body fat percentage greater than 30% for women and 25% for men.
According to the results of The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III, the frequency of obesity in adults living in the United States is now greater than one in three. Even more alarming is the number of obese children – the number doubled from 1960 to 1991. This situation is serious as the odds are 4:1 against a child ever achieving normal weight as an adult if they enter their teenage years obese, and 28:1 if they end their teenage years obese.
(more…)
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Monday, March 16th, 2009
Diagnostic summary
Crohn’s disease
Intermittent bouts of diarrhoea, low-grade fever, and right lower quadrant pain.
Anorexia, weight loss, flatulence, and malaise.
Abdominal tenderness, especially right lower quadrant, with signs of peritoneal irritation and an abdominal or pelvic mass.
X-rays how abnormality of terminal ileum.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is the most common gastrointestinal disorder seen in general practice, and represents 30-50% of all referrals to gastroenterologists. It has been estimated that approximately 15% of the population has complaints of IBS, with women predominating two to one (it is likely that an equal number of males have IBS but they do not report symptoms as often).
The etiology of the increased colonic motility seen in IBS has been attributed to physiological, psychological, and dietary factors. A diagnostic summary of IBS is described as a functional disorder of the large intestine with no evidence of accompanying structural defect; characterized by some combination of; abdominal pain, altered bowel function (constipation or diarrhoea), hypersecretion of colonic mucus, dyspeptic symptoms (flatulence, nausea, anorexia), varying degrees of anxiety or depression. (more…)