Diet for Ulcerative Colitis
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic disease caused by genetic and environmental factors in developed countries.
What is ulcerative colitis (UC)?
It is a chronic disease of unknown origin but is known to arise from the interaction of genetic and environmental factors observed in developed countries.
It is a type of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) caused by inflammation affecting the mucosa of the large intestine. A characteristic of this disease is its tendency to form ulcers along the lumen of the large intestine.
Uncontrolled immune responses against the environment and gut bacteria cause inflammation and gastrointestinal symptoms in this condition (1).
differences with other inflammatory bowel diseases.
IBD symptoms include diarrhea, fever, weight loss, anemia, food intolerances, malnutrition, poor growth, skin, liver, and arthritis.
Ulcerative colitis exclusively affects the large intestine, which includes the colon, rectum, and anus. This distinguishes it from the inflammatory bowel illness Crohn’s, which can affect the entire digestive tract, from the mouth to the anus. (1)
What are the causes of ulcerative colitis?
Gut bacterial flora changes and gastroenteritis-causing infections can cause genetic defects.
Symptoms of ulcerative colitis
This disease acts episodically, that is, in the form of outbreaks in which the patient presents symptoms such as diarrhea, rectal bleeding, and abdominal pain.
Periods of flares alternate with periods of remission of the disease, in which the manifestation of symptoms is less.
In general, an episode begins with increased urgency to defecate, lower abdominal cramping, and bloody, mucus-filled feces.
Proctitis: If the ulceration is in the recto-sigmoid area, the stool may be normal or hard and dry, with rectal mucus containing erythrocytes and leukocytes.
The feces become softer, more frequent, and crampy with tenesmus if the ulceration is in the proximal, transverse, ascending, or cecum.
The stool may be watery or contain mucus, most often consisting of blood and pus.
Signs and symptoms when UC is extensive are general malaise, fever, anorexia, and weight loss. These systemic symptoms, diet ulcerative colitis.
