Intestinal inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and Inflammatory bowel disease, have become more common in the recent years. Their various pathologies are different, but the common factor is their dysfunctional response to various food antigens and the existing microbiome. This causes an inflammatory response that further breaks down mucosal barrier as well as cause the various symptoms that cause so much suffering. Including pain, rectal bleeding, diarrhea, bloating, anorexia, weight loss, fatigue and fever. One of the ways to help with the inflammatory response is to take an extract called curcumin.
The intestinal wall has an epithelial barrier that also has a mucosal lining that helps with the barrier function. The integrity of the barrier is paramount to good health. Breakdown of the barrier can lead to a host of diseases that alter your immune response to food, and yourself. The common factor in these responses is the inflammatory process. Although the inflammatory response is your immune system’s way of dealing with the problem in the immediate, it’s when the inflammatory process gets out of hand and becomes chronic that further damage is caused. This is why addressing the inflammatory process is very important. Curcumin can help mitigate your immune response.
The key to controlling the inflammatory process is to make sure you limit the part that causes the disruption and not the part that causes the healing. This is what curcumin does so well. This helps with the barrier function of the colon. It stops the recurring cycle of degradation of the lining which in turn helps not just symptomatically, but also helps normalize your immune response.
Nitric Oxide (NO) also plays a role in helping maintain a healthy colon but in normal physiologic levels. If found in excessive levels as to be the case for most inflammatory bowel diseases, further tissue degradation can be expected which further cause the breakdown the epithelial barrier of the colon. Curcumin plays a role in modulating the iNOS stimulation, which decreases the nitric oxide output. Also plays a role in the scavenger process of excess NO itself.
Curcumin can play a important in helping people who are suffering most any type of inflammatory bowel disorder. Introducing a small amount (500mg 1 x day with food) and increasing up to 1000mg a day with food can be a great way to start taming the inflammatory response. It can also play a role as adjuvant with your prescribed medication but always please discuss with your treating physician before doing this.
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