
Crohn's Disease & Ulcerative Colitis Support Group
Crohn's disease is a systemic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) of unknown cause, that results in chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract. It can affect the entire gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, and can also cause complications outside of the gastrointestinal tract. There is no known medical or surgical cure for Crohn's disease, but there are many medical...
Sugar
Sugar is one of the most toxic foods on the digestive lining and pretty much intolerable by all those with IBD. The most deceiving part of sugar, is that when eaten it does not cause pain or bowel obstruction as nuts or a high fiber food might when eaten during a flare up. So, some think it is not a problem.
However, sugar totally strips the intestines of its healthy bacteria and replaces it with an overgrowth of the bad bacteria, leading to a condition known as candida. Sugar leads to a serious PH imbalance in the body and thus, makes it harder for the body to heal from a flare up.
Sugar causes gas, bloating, diahrrea, mouth ulcers (even in those without digestive problems). Sugar can be addictive and hard habit to break. And it can be especially difficult to wean children and teens with IBD off of sugar as they see all their peers eating it.
The worst kind of sugar to eat is corn syrup. If one must eat sugar, stick to small amounts of honey. Imitation sugars, such as nutrasweet and sorbital are also should be avoided as they are proven to upset the digestion of almost everyone, even those without IBD.
Note that alcohol behaves like a sugar in the body as well. Some find they can tolerate small amounts of white or red wine as well as small amounts of high quality vodka. But these should be consumed in moderation and avoided during a flare up.
Of course that was one on a million options for me to look at when I typed in "Crohn's and sugar" into Google. I'm sure that there are a million differing opinions on this...that's what makes deciding what to eliminate so frustrating.