Zosimo T. Literatus, R.M.T.
Breakthroughs

IN his autobiography (1949), Will Rogers wrote: “Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.”

Through this "rush living," we have come to face with diseases that doctors have specific names that they use when diagnosing them. They call it “syndrome.” Stress has been the most common source of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

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Its symptoms — chronic abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating, diarrhea or constipation, without any organic cause — pinpoint to many conditions.

Six scientists, from the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care at the University Medical Center Utrecht in Netherlands, found out that soluble dietary fiber can help bring down the severity of IBS symptoms to as much as 90 percent in three months.

In a study, published on Aug. 27 in the British Medical Journal, the researchers observed 275 patients (ages 18 to 65 years) for a 12-week run with a soluble dietary fiber (psyllium), an insoluble dietary fiber (bran), and rice flour as placebo.

Lead investigator CJ Bijkerk reported that psyllium provided almost double the relief over rice flour even in the first month. The same effect from bran happened only in the third month of treatment. But this result from bran turned less encouraging from the fact that most early dropouts from the study had taken bran, and the reason was the worsening of symptoms.

Only 40 percent of symptoms improved with the continued use of rice flour for meals and 58 percent for bran, continued Bijkerk.

Often referred to as a “true dietary fiber,” psyllium mucilage is highest in Plantago ovate (blonde psyllium), and contains a high level of soluble dietary fibers most commonly used as bulking agent in laxatives. It absorbs excess water from the small intestines while stimulating normal bowel elimination. It can also reduce symptoms of constipation and mild diarrhea. A 1.5 percent solution of psyllium binds water much better than 10 percent of starch mucilage.

Interestingly, it is found in ice cream and frozen desserts as thickener. But we are not implying the intake of ice cream for IBS because its high fat content may worsen the already irritated intestinal lining.

Should stress bring you IBS, Douglas Pagels advises in his poem These Are the Gifts I’d Like to Give You: “Sometimes it’s important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it’s essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow.”