For My Tummy

Following a Soluble Fiber Trail across the Net

Background
For more information on the importance of soluble fiber in the dietary approach to IBS, see these earlier posts:

Fiber Glossary, and
Fiber 101a, as well as
Fiber 101b.

Today’s web adventure:
Today, as I placed a regular supplement order with Vitacost.com, I somehow saw a long list of products. From idle curiosity, I scrolled down the page. I noticed that they listed guar gum, the main ingredient in the old form of Benefiber ™. Of course I clicked on the listing, and got two listings, for Source Naturals ™ versions of the same product.

Because I knew Amazon sells Source Naturals, and VitaCost had a shipment delay on one size of the Guar Gum product, I checked price and shipment information on Amazon.com, using “guar gum” for the search term. Yes, they have the same product, but you have to buy three at a time. Yes, it’s shipped directly from Amazon.com, so (especially if you are an Amazon Prime member) the ship time is very fast and accurate. Just to see what else there is, I checked their whole listing for guar gum. You can do the same — just avoid Bob’s Red Mill ™ or Barry Farm guar gum, which are intended for baking, and very hard to use as a supplement.

Believe me, I’ve tried.

At the bottom of the Amazon list of guar gum products, they had an allied ad from HerbalRemedies.com.
Poking around that web site, I found the following information on acacia fiber, the basis for Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™.

Acacia General Information
Ancient Hebrews considered Acacia to be the Shittah tree of the Bible which supplied the sacred wood. The Ark of the Covenant and the sacred Tabernacle were made from Acacia wood. As a spiritual icon it is also one of the most powerful “symbols” in Freemasonry representing the eternal soul and purity of the soul. The ancient Egyptians used the gum of the tree on loose teeth because its thick mucilaginous (thick and sticky) properties supported the tooth while the astringent qualities tightened up the gum tissue surrounding the loose tooth. The Egyptians also used the material as a glue and as a pain reliever base. The gum of the Acacia tree was applied to open wounds as an antiseptic. The Aztecs used it as a food and dye, and ate the seedpods as an aphrodisiac.

Where The Acacia Tree is Found Today
The acacia tree (Acacia Senegal) is a thorny, scraggly tree that grows to heights of about 15 feeet. It grows most prolifically in regions of Africa, in particlular in the Republic of Sudan. During times of drought, the bark of the tree splits, exuding a sap that dries in small droplets or “tears”. In the past, these hardened sap tears served as the major source of acacia gum, but today commercial acacia gum is derived by tapping trees periodically and collecting the resin semi-mechanically. At least three grades of acacia gum are available commercially and their quality is distinguished by the coloor and character in the collected tears. There is considerable variation in the gum quality depending on whether it is obtained by natural flow secondary to extreme drought, obtained by tapping of induced by the boring of beetles at sites of branch injury. Gums derived from Combretum are readily available at low prices in East and West Africa and are often offered for sale as “gum arabic”.

Acacia Uses & Scientific Evidence For
Today Gum Arabic is used to provide a soothing coating over inflammations in the respiratory, alimentary, and urinary tracts. It is also helpful for coughs, sore throat, and catarrh, eyewash, diarrhea, and dysentery. Acacia is sometimes used for typhoid fever as well. Acacia is highly soluble, with low viscosity and a high soluble dietary fiber content, and therefore, used in meal replacement products, nutritional beverages, and weight-loss products. Acacia gum has been used in food as a stabilizer and in pharmaceuticals as a demulcent. It is used topically for healing wounds and has been shown to inhibit the growth of periodontal bacteria and the early deposition of plaque.

Post Summary
That’s comprehensive information on acacia fiber, when I started out looking for guar gum supplements — especially to replace Benefiber ™, which is now made with wheat dextrin. So in the next post, I’ll deal more specifically with guar gum as a soluble fiber, not just where to get the supplement.

August 22nd, 2008 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, VitaCost, FiberSure (tm), Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm), Benefiber (tm), Prebiotics, IBS Diet | no comments

Irritable Bowel Syndrome: 7 Diet Principles

Introduction
I would like to clarify the underlying principles to the IBS food recommendations that I make on ForMyTummy (FMT). When I first started ForMyTummy.com, over a year ago, I thought the principles were the same as, or similar to, those of Heather Van Vorous, of the HelpforIBS.com web site. Upon reflection, after a year of writing tips and recipes and articles, there are some specific features to my approach which can be stated as, ta-da!, the following Principles.

Principle 1

NEVER EAT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH
This means that when you wake up, the first thing you put into your mouth is a soluble fiber, such as Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™ or FiberSure ™. Later in the day, the first thing into your mouth will be either a small amount of gentle starch like rice or soy crackers, or another part of your daily dose of a Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS).

Principle 2

GET ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN FOOD SHOPPING
This is because you are in a learning process yourself. To try to tell someone else who is buying or preparing your food what it is that you want/need, and what has to be or not be on the food label is to create more interpersonal stress than you really need. Negotiate to be part of shopping trips, or change your food service (lunch place, wherever) to “vegan,” or ask for gift certificates to Amazon and lay in your own stock of oatmeal or soy noodle soup or something else that you like.

Principle 3

READ ALL FOOD LABELS IN THE STORE!
This means take your reading glasses with you to the grocery store, or read the food labels online–Amazon is pretty good at publishing the labels, and many product web pages have them available. You want to know two things:
1. The list of ingredients, and
2. The nutrition information, particularly carbohydrate and fiber content

Principles 4 and 5 are to be applied in sequence.

Principle 4

START WITH AN ELIMINATION DIET
This means that you begin by eliminating all foods that occur on the List of IBS Triggers. In addition, at the beginning you will avoid most fruits and vegetables, unless they are pureed (as in baby foods), or starchy, such as potatoes and sweet potatoes without skins and butter. In cutting out caffeine, cut your daily intake in half, in half again, and in half again if you are a heavy user. Then cut out all caffeine.
This also means that you will have to switch to available foods that are based on soy beans or rice. Rice is both binding and calming to the tummy; that means that if you have IBS-C, base your NEW diet on soy, and add small amounts of rice.
This also means no food diary! See “Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the Food Diary.”

Principle 5

EMPHASIZE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FOR ADDED FOODS
This means that you build your NEW diet up from the “rescue” diet that eliminated fruits and vegetables, by cautiously adding new fruits and vegetables, preferably one at a time. Fruit should be skinned and cut up; vegetables should be steamed. Maybe you will try out steaming fruit as well–that’s my next experiment. See the New Food Pyramid for more information about a pyramid built on fruits and vegetables.

Principle 6

MOVE AND GROW
This means several things:
1. Get off your duff and do something about your IBS, or
2. Include physical exercise, or
3. Grow thinner or fatter, whichever you need to do, or
4. Move through the process of self-help for IBS and grow as a person.

Principle 7

ADD THESE TO YOUR NEW DIET
1. Enough soluble fiber supplement (SFS)- See the Fiber 101 posts, starting with Fiber 101a, and the articles in the category “Prebiotics.”
2. A good probiotic, Digestive Advantage-IBS ™ caplets or Align ™ caplets are ones that supply the probiotic in effective amounts; they are reviewed in the category “Probiotics.”

Principle 8

VARIATIONS
This means that you can pick from these principles according to the extent of your IBS “damage” in the slang sense. Principle 1, 2, and 3 apply to everyone, with 2 and 3 being ones you can take on gradually. The Principles 4 and 5 involve radical dietary change for most of us. You need to be really committed to change, really miserable with aspects of IBS, to take this on. Principles 6 and 7 should be added to Principles 1, 2, and 3 as well as used with the full dietary changes of 4 and 5.

COMMENTS?

How would you use these principles? Are there any others that you would want to express? Please comment using the Link below, that says “No Comments” if you are the first to write in–otherwise the linke says “1 Comment” or “2 Comments,” and so forth.

October 11th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, Probiotics, Soy Products, Prebiotics, IBS Diet | 2 comments

Irritable Bowel Syndrome - What to Use Every Day?

In reviewing the questions that people ask search engines, and then get direct to this site, I am seeing a lot of “is it ok to take xyz every day.” The answers are sprinkled through this site, so I wonder whether people find what they are looking for.

In this post I review some of the queries and try out some answers. Feel free to comment by clicking on the “no comment” link, which opens the comment box:

Is it okay to take laxatives every day?
• a. By laxative do you mean anything in the laxative aisle of the drugstore? Then read beyond this question for information on Soluble Fiber Supplements, also called “prebiotics.”
• b. Generally it is not good practice to do this. Over a long space of time you become dependent on laxatives, and you need a larger and larger dose to get the same effect. A diet that avoids IBS triggers, and the simultaneous building up of your intake of soluble fiber supplements (SFS) to the recommended levels will relieve constipation over time. You do not need to have a bowel movement every day; fewer than three per week is a cause for concern. “Cause for concern” is code for “talk to your doctor about this.”

Is Benefiber okay? Review of Benefiber?
• When the major ingredient of Benefiber was guar gum, it was okay. At that point Benefiber was a Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS), which is the kind that helps IBS. Now it is not an SFS, because the makers (Novartis, makers of Zelnorm) changed the main ingredient to maltodextrin.

What about Fibersure? Review? Take it every day?
• Fibersure is an SFS, made from chicory root fiber, also called “inulin.” Anything similar that is all inulin–for example, a Walmart store brand, or a Canadian, Indian, Australian, or British product–would act similarly. This is the kind of product in the “laxatives” aisle that you should take every day. In fact, you should take several doses throughout the day to build up to 20 to 30 grams of soluble fiber every day.
• I don’t receive the queries about Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™, which is the other brand name Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS). Like FiberSure, it should be taken every day. Like FiberSure, unlike senokot and similar laxatives, you should gradually build up to a base level of 20 to 30 grams of SFS per day.

Take Metamucil ™ every day?
• There are two answers here. First, unless you have a free year’s supply of Metamucil ™ without any additives, don’t take Metamucil ™ for IBS. It has several ways of irritating a sensitive tummy. Second, if you have an otherwise nice doctor who insists that you take a psyllium fiber supplement (PFS), try bargaining with her to take Original Konsyl ™, which is a PFS with absolutely no sugar, sugar substitute, orange coloring, orange flavoring, etc–no additives at all.
• So the short answer? Don’t take Metamucil ™ every day; don’t take Metamucil ™ at all! If you take Original Konsyl ™ every day, preferably add it to a base of 20 to 30 grams of SFS.

Look for a further post on “every day IBS care.”

September 30th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, general, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS-D, FiberSure (tm), Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm), Benefiber (tm), Prebiotics | 4 comments

Glossary of Fiber Terms Used in Writing about Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Terminology Problems
The discussion about appropriate types of fiber in the therapy of Irritable Bowel Syndrome is hampered by a number of misconceptions about fiber. What has been holding me up in writing a simple Fiber 101b post, the second part of the primer on fiber, has been the need to explain several distinctions among types of fiber, that is so much of what I mean when I say fiber.

These are some the terms used on this and other sites:

• Dietary Fiber
• Insoluble Fiber (IF)
• Soluble Fiber (SF)
• Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS)
• TV ads for “Fiber”

Putting the explanation of terms into an article, I think, will make your eyes glaze over. That will happen if what I say is in conflict with what you know. So, this is the fiber glossary, the words and terms for talking about fiber. Some of what is on this page will be new to your understanding of fiber.

Glossary

Fiber

Not a specific term. It doesn’t describe the food, or the supplements, that supply fiber. It may be used to describe a daily amount of fiber.

Dietary Fiber

This is more specific. It is part of the break down of the carbohydrates count in a nutrition label. The other part of the carbohydrate count is sugars. Dietary fiber contributes only a small amount of energy/calories, because it is the residue from plant foods.¹ Recommended daily allowances are talking about measurable totals of different kinds of dietary fiber.

Soluble Fiber (SF)

Soluble Fiber comes from plants that are sources of gums used in the preparation of foods, as thickeners, for example. In Heather’s system of Eating for IBS, soluble fiber is also starches that are found in rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, and are useful to put the gastrocolic reflex to sleep before eating a (more-or-less) regular meal.

Soluble Fiber Supplements (SFS)

Soluble Fiber Supplements are commercially available varieties of the first kind of SF above, the plants that produce gums that dissolve completely in water. Some examples are guar gum used in the old Benefiber ™, acacia gum used in Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™, and inulin from chicory root, sometimes used as a sweetener, and the only ingredient in FiberSure ™.

Insoluble Fiber (IF)

This is plant materials–fibers–that do not dissolve in water. Insoluble fiber is what used to be called “roughage.” It is usually what we understand doctors to be saying when they say “Increase fiber.” My bad example is Metamucil ™, which is made from psyllium (a kind of seed) husks. They add bulk to the stool, hastening its movement through the intestines. Bran and various crunchy, rough cereals are sources of insoluble fiber (IF); also raw vegetables such as carrots. The skins and seeds of fruit and vegetables are other sources, as are nuts. This is what doctors still give as the kind of stuff to eat as part of a “high fiber diet.”
None of these things is easily tolerated by a person with IBS.

TV Ads for “Fiber”

In the United States there is an ad for FiberCon caplets, ™ which are “Calcium polycarbophil 625 mg equivalent to 500 mg polycarbophil.” Their labeling suggests that the caplets should not be used more than 7 days without a doctor’s approval. The ingredient is the same as that in Equalactin ™. The interesting point is the way the ads play on the popular conception of a “high fiber diet,” and suggest that such a diet is impossible to follow because we’d be eating fiber all day. So, why not take their caplets? Well, because polycarbophil is a “bulk-forming” laxative–roughage, or IF–and may give some problems to people with IBS.

NOTE
In the past, in the archived posts on this blog, I have used SF and SFS interchangeably, meaning supplements. Heather’s site also has used the terms interchangeably in the past, in the meaning of both supplements and the soluble element of starches such as rice and potatoes, and bananas.
Neither of us is technically wrong, just different. SF, including both starches and SFS, is PREbiotic, a growing medium for the good bacteria that we call PRObiotics.

1. 1 Shirley S. Lorenzani, “Dietary Fiber: Its Surprising Range of Therapeutic and Protective Health Benefits,” Good Health Guides (New Canaan, Connecticut: Keats Publishing) 1988. [↩]

August 21st, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, IBS therapy, FiberSure (tm), Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm), Prebiotics, IBS Diet, IBS Symptoms | one comment

False and True Conceptions about Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Treatment

The following paragraph on Heather’s web site caught my eye:

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Supplements
Supplements for the dietary management of IBS can be unbelievably helpful for stabilizing digestion. This is particularly true when they’re used as one of the five key strategies for controlling Irritable Bowel Syndrome (proper diet, stress management, alternative therapies, and prescription medications are the other four).

Soluble fiber supplements, herbs that have medicinal effects on the gastrointestinal tract, heat therapy, probiotics, calcium and/or magnesium, and digestive enzymes are all of proven benefit. Best of all, results are usually felt very quickly - sometimes even immediately (emphasis mine). ((1 from the Help for IBS Website
http://www.helpforibs.com/supplements/))

see also

http://www.helpforibs.com/footer/treatments.asp

Not to throw a wet blanket on your hopes of instant relief–well, yes, I’ll throw that wet blanket after all.

Starting diet change, discovering that indeed there are more triggers than you thought, finding the right supplements, all take time. It took me at least three months. Then, too, probiotics take at least three weeks before they begin to give relief. So IBS treatment in full does not produce rapid results. Yes, parts of a treatment regimen do, such as putting a heating pad on a painful tummy, or drinking fennel tea for gas and bloating. Getting IBS under control, though, takes time.

August 19th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, Probiotics, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS therapy, IBS Triggers, Digesting Information, Prebiotics, Adjuncts, IBS Symptoms | 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

Lost Post - Warmup to Fiber 101b, Fiber for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Warmup
In this warmup for the second part of the series on Fiber for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), I want to talk about daily fiber intake. Isn’t that dull! There is almost nothing in the world that will convince me that I should keep a daily record of what I eat and its fiber content.

Daily Record of Fiber Intake
Twice in my life I have kept a daily record of what food intake. It wasn’t easy. Once I did it for the doctor, who thought I was overeating until that daily record convinced her that I wasn’t, and once for you, the reader of this blog, when I listed my day’s intake of various foods that help me control IBS.

What I’m suggesting here is not quite so tedious as the record of everything eaten. Rather, for many people it is helpful to put a number to the amount of fiber you are actually taking in every day.

Tasty Example
For example, you may be curious, as I was, about a bottled berry smoothie from Bolthouse Farms. To check it out, you take home one bottle, and like the taste of it so much (even though there’s no added sugar) that you drink two servings, without realizing that your fiber intake for that much berry smoothie is 16 grams, over and above what your daily average intake may be. You regularly get the recommended amount of fiber–30 grams per day. But for the day you indulge in that wonderful blueberry smoothie your fiber total is over 150 per cent of normal, at 46 grams/day!

Oops!
If you don’t have a fairly standard daily fiber intake, you may fluctuate from 3 grams of fiber on Monday, to 19 grams of fiber on Tuesday, to 8 or 9 grams of fiber on Wednesday. And all without knowing that’s what you are doing. When these fluctuations are less than the soluble fiber your body needs, you may not notice them.

Managing Fiber Intake
Getting control of IBS symptoms is a complicated dance, to be sure. Fiber intake, however, is something that is under your control, that you can manage, and that you can regulate so that you are taking in a consistent amount.

Do you have the habit of checking the fiber content of everything you eat? I thought I did, but that blueberry smoothie (from Bolthouse Farms) surprised me. Checking the label, I see that the smoothie has fresh berries, and no sugar. And, the smoothie also has “dextrin (as dietary fiber), inulin (as dietary fiber),” and “xanthan gum (as dietary fiber).” These are all soluble fibers; in fact the 8 grams of fiber total are also 8 grams of soluble fibers, in an 8 oz. serving.

So if you could afford to drink this product four times a day, you could get your 32 grams of soluble fiber this way. As well as 680 calories!

If you overindulged, though, a lot of additional fiber would flood your system and produce or worsen diarrhea.

Are wild swings in fiber intake what is causing IBS? Not so far as I have ever read anyone say. The role of “cause” is the impact trigger foodsthat set into motion / lack of motion, a great many different events that affect gastric motility–gut motion.

Major Role of Fiber
Fiber, though, has a major role in the play–a gram of fiber is the star, the prima donna. When she goes off stage, when she isn’t there to play her part, the drama suffers.

The Stage Manager
So I’m asking you to be a stage manager. Your job is to keep track of where the star is ( = how much fiber) and whether she is making her entrances and exits on cue, or has left the theater. She has to make 30 entrances and exits every day the play is running, and she has to dissolve the emotions of the audience when she does.

On the Clipboard
So you have a notebook, or a notepad, and you track whether your gram of fiber is making her entrances every day on time, every time.

What that means is that you read the labels of the food you eat, and note down the fiber (or fibre) count. Track that prima donna, who has the starring role in the drama of your gut!

August 14th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Prebiotics | no comments

Benefiber for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Benefiber in the Past
In reviewing the statistics for this growing blog, I notice that one of the most frequently used keywords is Benefiber. I imagine that people are checking out whether Benefiber is a good choice for a soluble fiber. Indeed, there used to be three soluble fibers on the market that I could recommend; Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™, FiberSure ™, and Benefiber ™. I have used Benefiber myself, and my doctor recommended it at one time.

BUT
At the time I could make these positive statements, Benefiber ™ consisted entirely of processed Guar Gum, one of the group of PREbiotics that shared the benefits of soluble fiber. I searched for ingredients of Benefiber on the web and every listing said the main ingredient was Guar Gum. I know that the Benefiber I have seen on the shelf at my local–across the street, easy to do research–CVS has maltodextrin as its main ingredient. Have I gone crazy? No. I checked with Amazon.com for an up-to-date listing. The ingredients are “Wheat Dextrin. Gluten Free (Less than 10 ppm Gluten).” Hmm. So maybe it’s okay. But is it the product for which Novartis — who brought us Zelnorm ™ — got FDA approval. That FDA approval figured large in my doctor’s recommendation for Benefiber.

Novartis
Novartis simply has not updated any of its own or others’ listings of ingredients for Benefiber. I want to be sarcastic here, but won’t. To read more about the switch, see this review at IBS Tales, http://www.irritable-bowel-syndrome.ws/benefiber.htm. .

This Blog Withdraws Approval
Based on the unannounced switch and the negative customer review on IBS Tales, I am withdrawing approval for Benefiber of the Wheat Dextrin kind. As much as possible, when I can, I’ll go back and change earlier posts to reflect the change in the product.

Feedback
What is your feeling about Benefiber? Do you like and use the new, wheat-dextrin product? Did you notice the change?

August 10th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, Amazon, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Benefiber (tm), Prebiotics | no comments

Konsyl Launches PRO plus PREbiotic IBS Package

The following is a press release announcing that Konsyl has launched a combination of PRObiotics and PREbiotics especially for people with IBS. As regular readers know, I recently stressed that Align (for example) or NSI probiotics needed to be taken along with a PREbiotic such as Acacia fiber when managing your IBS.

I am not too thrilled with Konsyl’s choice of fibers. The combination approach–of inulin and psyllium fibers–does seem helpful for IBS, though. I would also like more information on the suggested dosage, or means of managing IBS through using the Konsyl Combination product if no dosage is suggested.

Here is the news release in full.

New IBS Package Includes Soluble Fiber and Probiotics

Konsyl’s IBS Package can help contribute to a healthier intestine and assist in relieving some of the discomforts of IBS

Easton, MD (PRWEB) July 15, 2007 — Konsyl Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a leading producer of high quality, natural supplements for intestinal and digestive health, is proud to introduce a new IBS Package for Irritable Bowel Syndrome sufferers. Konsyl Balance natural fiber supplement is combined with Probiotic Complex Capsules for maximum health benefits.

Konsyl Balance is a blend of two popular natural fiber sources, psyllium and inulin. Psyllium provides soluble fiber, which soothes and regulates the digestive tract; it helps to stabilize intestinal contractions resulting from the gastrocolic reflex and helps in both conditions of diarrhea and constipation. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and this allows for absorption of liquid in the colon. Soluble Fiber also helps form a gel and creates bulk as it passes intact through the gut, preventing diarrhea. On the other hand, soluble fiber also effectively relieves constipation by softening and pushing through impacted fecal matter, making Konsyl Balance an excellent form of soluble fiber for IBS patients with chronic diarrhea or chronic constipation.

Another benefit for using Balance is the ingredient Inulin. Inulin is a soluble fiber obtained from chicory root that increases the activity of the beneficial bacteria in the gut. It does this by acting as a “food” for the good bacteria (”probiotics”) in your digestive system, so it is another helpful fiber source for IBS sufferers.

Konsyl’s Probiotic Complex Capsule contains Lactobacillus acidophilus which are healthy bacteria inhabiting the intestines that protect against some unhealthy organisms. Some people report L. acidophilus provides relief from indigestion and diarrhea. Probiotic therapy, primarily in the form of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacteria infantis, significantly improves symptoms and quality of life in patients with IBS, and other bowel disorders. Review of patient histories indicates that there is a deficiency of Lactobacillus in the gut flora of patients with IBS.

Konsyl’s IBS Package can help contribute to a healthier intestine and assist in relieving some of the discomforts of IBS. The IBS Package with Konsyl Balance and Lactobacillus Probiotic Complex, is available online at www.addfiber.com.

Konsyl Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of high quality, natural fiber supplements for improved intestinal and digestive health. The high fiber content of Konsyl products helps consumers to achieve dependable intestinal health. Konsyl fiber products are available in fine pharmacies and chain stores throughout the United States. For more information on Konsyl Pharmaceuticals, Inc. or its complete line of products, contact a company representative at 800-356-6795, or visit the company’s website at www.konsyl.com.

This was posted on www.prweb.com and dated July 15, which is when I saw it. By convention, public relations releases are designed for the largest possible circulation and as far as I understand it, are therefore not copyrighted.

I have been generally impressed by the quality of information about products for IBS - irritable bowel syndrome. That is, such information discusses what the product contains and how it works as an aid to controlling IBS - irritable bowel syndrome. That said, we are still looking at the “choose Me,” “eat this,” and “this is the best stuff.”

The basic therapy for IBS remains dietary control. The adjuncts to the basic therapy for IBS by dietary control are adequate fiber intake (PREbiotic), an active PRObiotic culture of good bacteria, and high water intake.

July 15th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, Probiotics, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS therapy, IBS-C, IBS-D, Prebiotics | no comments

Water, When You Have IBS

Don’t Drink the Water
In my teens, quite a while ago, I often mentioned tummy pains to my family doctor. While the diagnosis of IBS didn’t exist, he did give me a word of wisdom that helped. He said: “Don’t drink ice water!”

I have now extended that to “Don’t drink cold, refrigerated water!” I have a bottle of (fresh) room-temperature water in the kitchen. I mix it in varying amounts with cold water from the refrigerator. Keeps my IBS tummy happy!

The thing is, really cold water, especially on an empty stomach, triggers the gastrocolic reflex, that demon that we want to keep sleeping!

Gastrocolic Reflex
The nice thing is that by drinking cold water on an empty stomach, and triggering your gastrocolic reflex, you become aware of what it feels like. You know the effect on your IBS symptoms because the cramping, or bowel moving, or gas passing, that is part of your IBS, pops up in miniature. When you know what it feels like to have an IBS trigger activate your gastrocolic reflex, you can chase the gastrocolic reflex with a banana, or banana chips, or some rice, or rice crackers, or some soluble fiber (Benefiber ™, Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™, or FiberSure ™). So you have some control over the later and stronger IBS reaction that would otherwise come.

Is that clear? I’m trying to say (1) Recognize when your IBS trigger has hit your gastrocolic reflex, using cold/ice water; (2) chase your IBS trigger by eating one of the IBS soothers I’ve listed above.

Nice!
Somehow that strategy, chasing after a mistake you made in eating or drinking something you shouldn’t, is a really nice “benefit” of having IBS. :-/ There are not many things in life that really allow you to undo the past. This is one of them!

July 11th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | Gastrocolic Reflex, fiber, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS Triggers, IBS food, FiberSure (tm), Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm), Benefiber (tm), Prebiotics | no comments

PREbiotics plus PRObiotics = SYNbiotics for IBS

It’s getting sexier by the minute!

The reason I have produced all the material below, about the role of PRObiotics and PREbiotics in IBS management, is to lay a foundation for discussion of Align ™, the new PRObiotic for IBS that has FDA approval and is supported by clinical trials. There is a lot of hype about Align ™ in the online community of people with IBS, and I want users and prospective users to know that both the PRObiotic such as Align ™ and the PREbiotic such as Heather’s Organic Tummy Fiber ™ should be used together. Using PRObiotic and PREbiotic together produces a SYNbiotic effect in managing IBS.

That means that you cannot drop the need to change to a higher-fiber diet “just because.” Just because, that is, there is now an over-the-counter pill that is designed and patented, researched and FDA-approved, only for IBS. You still need to increase your daily intake of a soluble fiber to between 30 and 40 grams a day to manage your IBS. Align(tm) or the NSI Probiotics, or other probiotic formulas do not work magically all by themselves–they need PREbiotics to provide the right environment.

The importance of using both is underlined in the following quote:

The main reason for using a synbiotic is that a true probiotic, without its prebiotic food, does not survive well in the digestive system. To enhance viability, not only on the shelf but also in the colon, the product must allow for much greater attachment and growth rate of the healthy bacteria in order to minimize the growth of harmful bacteria.

Without the necessary food source for the probiotic, it will have a greater intolerance for oxygen, low pH, and temperature. In addition, the probiotic will have to compete against other bacteria that will take over if its specific food source is not available. Therefore, a “symbiotic” product (probiotic + prebiotic = synbiotic) makes for a better choice.

http://www.innvista.com/health/nutrition/biotics/synbiot.htm
, accessed 7/8/07.

Below this post you will see a series of posts that are a primer on PREbiotics and PRObiotics in managing IBS.

July 9th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, Probiotics, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS therapy, Align, Digesting Information, Prebiotics | 2 comments

PREbiotics 102 - Summary of IBS-related Readings

Briefly, it’s important to know what PREbiotics are–essentially, they are the kind of soluble fiber that stays in the gut without being digested. Because of that, they reach the large intestine and colon. And because of that they preserve the good bugs/bacteria–the PRObiotics–that would otherwise be destroyed before reaching the large intestine, where they are most needed. In our case they are most needed to control Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), which takes place in the large intestine.

PRObiotics are good bacteria, “bugs.”

But PREbiotics are something different. They are foods, such as bananas, and elements of foods, such as fiber. The article calls them “fiber gums.” The most researched PREbiotic appears to be inulin. FiberSure ™ is completely composed of inulin. Acacia fiber is another PREbiotic that is a more complete form of the general PREbiotc term FOS or Fructo-Oligo-Saccharide. Additional PREbiotic fiber gums are guar gum, which is the major ingredient of Benefiber ™, and Xanthan gum. As the lore about IBS management has developed, these are also called soluble fibers.

Are you getting that MIGO feeling? Where MIGO stands for “My Eyes Glaze Over?”

Basic difference - PREbiotics are the unmixed, soluble fibers, plus some foods such as bananas.
PRObiotics are bacteria, pure and simple, or not so simple. Align ™ is a probiotic with a new, patented bacterium. The most usually researched PRObiotics have been lactobacillus and bifidobacterium (which an advertising person has apparently renamed “Bifidus Regularis (tm(?)).”) :-)

We have only been using the term “prebiotic” since its invention in 1995, by a Belgian scientist. Prior to that time–and probably for some time after that, too–I believe the term “soluble fiber” would have been used, at least when speaking about IBS in lay terms.

So when rice and bananas also calm the gastrocolic reflex, and then stay good all the way down, it’s not that they are “soluble fibers” per se. Rather, they are (or have a lot of) PREbiotics.

July 9th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS therapy, Digesting Information, Prebiotics | no comments