For My Tummy

Self-Help for IBS

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in England and Wales

An organization called NICE (National Institute for Health Information Clearance Exchange) is calling for comments on Standards of Practice in Medicine for Irritable Bowel Syndrome that are in development by the National Health Service. The comment period has started, and will end on October 11, 2007.

Mostly they want comments from so-called “Stakeholder” Organizations. This would be something like “People with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS),” if such an organization existed. Unfortunately, I doubt that there is much of any patient organization for IBS. That is why I hope that readers in England and Wales will check out the preliminary guidelines posted on the NICE site, and then submit their comments. Here is the link again in plain sight: http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=448543

Thank you.

August 17th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | Blog, Medical, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome | no comments

“Is Soy Yogurt Good for IBS?”

One-Way Dialog
One way to have a dialog with readers of this blog is to look for the questions people are entering into search engines, where the search engine decides ForMyTummy has something to say on the question. Sometimes I doubt that the questioner found an answer here. When I answer these questions, it’s after the fact, but another reader may have the same question.

This one, “Is soy yogurt good for IBS?” caught my eye, because I just had a cup of soy yogurt for breakfast, and brought it to the computer with me, so it’s right here. I don’t even have to get up! I had Soy Live! (Soy Yogurt) made by Silk, in peach flavor. Here are the ingredients:


    Ingredients of Silk Soy Yogurt

Organic soymilk
Organic evaporated cane juice
Peaches
Rice starch [a possible PREbiotic]
Dextrose
Natural flavors
Tricalcium phosphate
Cultured glucose syrup solids (this may be the growing medium for PRObiotic “good bugs”)
Citric acid (a preservative)
Pectin (a possible PREbiotic)
Locust bean gum (PREbiotic - the word “gum” tells us this)
Ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
Annato [sp?] and turmeric (for color)
Yogurt cultures - Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillous acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus rhamosus

PREbiotic and PRObiotic = SYNbiotic
This soy yogurt has all the ingredients of a SYNbiotic (PRObiotic and PREbiotic). For a more general and technical view of the ingredients of soy yogurt, go to this site.

Oh, yes, you wanted to know about protein and sugar content and that kind of thing? This soy yogurt list of contents is from the Silk soymilk website This is for one container of peach.

    Nutrition Table

Calories 160
Calories from fat 20

Total Fat 2 g., no saturated fat, no trans fat
No Cholesterol
Sodium 25 mg.

Total Carbohydrates 32 grams
Fiber 1 gram
Sugar 25 grams (which you want, for the culture to grow)

Protein 4 grams

Is it Good for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)?”
Now, to the question “Is it good for IBS?” Everything in it except citric acid is well-tolerated by people with IBS. It is not good in the sense that if one a day is good, four per day is even better. No! That’s because of the relatively high sugar content and relatively low protein content. One a day is the equivalent of one Dannon Activia per day, in terms of following the advertising for Activia. If you can tolerate lactose in the form of yogurts and cheeses, as I could once upon a time, then the Silk Soy Live! yogurt increases your options. If you are completely lactose-intolerant, as I am now, then you still have a yogurt alternative in Silk - and there may be other brands I don’t find in my local grocery stores.

In Conclusion
Incidentally, I note from my web searches that according to this blog, Wal-Mart has Silk Soy yogurt for $.89 for an 8 oz. cup! It’s an engaging post, from February 2005, so take it for what it’s worth.

“Just one more thing.” Use a supplement for a daily probiotic, rather than relying solely on soy yogurt.

August 17th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | Probiotics, IBS food, Soy Products, Prebiotics, Dannon Activia Yogurt | one comment