Diverticular disease
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Words from "The Fibre Man"
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Facts
- Diverticula (singular : diverticulum) are small pouches or sacs formed on the wall of the colon.
- The size of a diverticulum can range from one tenth of an inch to more than an inch in diameter. A giant version can range from 1 to 6 inches in diameter (i.e. 2.54 to 15 cm).
- When these pouches pose no discomfort, the condition is called diverticulosis but when they become inflamed, the condition is now called diverticulitis.
- Some people with diverticulosis experience no symptoms at all while others have pain in the lower left side of the abdomen, bloating, flatus, constipation or diarrhea.
- Diverticulitis can develop anywhere on the colon but usually along the left side of the colon just before the rectum named the sigmoid colon. As the muscle wall of the colon thickens with age, so leads to the rising of the pressure within colon as it seeks to fulfill it's elmination functions. In the course of time this drives the inner intestinal lining outwards through the muscle wall creating diverticula. Undigested food and bacteria housed within the diverticula can cause bleeding, inflammation and infection. In serious cases when the walls of the pouches are torn, fecal matter flow out and infection spreads to the abominal cavity.
- Symptoms of diverticulitis include lower abdomen pain, nausea, fever, cramps, constipation or diarrhea and rectal bleeding.
- Diverticulitis is usually treated with antibiotics to reduce inflammation, stool softeners and a liquid diet.
- Diverticular disease is linked to a low-fiber diet. Increase fiber intake now to avoid any problems with this disease.
- It is common with middle-age folks and increases with age.
The relief plan
Words from 'The Fibre Man'
Hear these words of caution from Dr. Denis Burkitt * as found in Brian Kellock's book 'The Fibre Man' (Lion Publishing plc, 1985) :
"Fibre in the diet makes the stool more acid. As a result there is less bacterial degradation of the normal bowel constituents into potential carcinogens (cancer-producing substances), so fibre probably reduces the carcinogens in your gut and mine. Also fibre increases the mass of the stool, so any carcinogens contained in it are beneficially diluted. In addition, intestinal transit time is shortened, so contact between carcinogens and the bowel lining is also shortened."
"Diverticular disease is a disease of Western culture, almost unknown in the third world. Even in a relatively advanced city like New Delhi, where I visited an enormous university X-ray department, I found they had seen only eight cases of diverticular disease in thirteen years. In Britain it is estimated that it is present in one in three adults over sixty."
"Cancer of the large bowel is more closely related to Western culture than is any other form of cancer. After lung tumors, colo-rectal cancer is the second commonest cause of cancer death in econimically more developed countries today. It is rare everywhere in the third world."
* Born in 1911 in Ireland, Dr. Burkitt while serving as a surgeon in Africa in the '50s and '60s, discovered a type of lymphatic cancer in children, which is known as Burkitt's lymphoma. He also found that a serious lack of fiber in the typical Western diet was to blame for many diseases such as colon cancer, diabetes and heart disease - rarely found in Afican populations, where diets are rich in fiber.
Find out more about what Dr. Bukitt said
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