# Our Food Supply Caused This?



## IBS & Surviving (Jun 24, 2014)

I watched this movie the other day called Food Inc that has me thinking about IBS and our food supply. One of the things they showed was ground beef that is "washed" with ammonia before shipping it to our grocery stores. The movie also showed extremely unsanitary conditions for chickens and genetic modifications for many foods we eat every day.

Could this cause a "toxic soup" in our guts that we can't seem to handle? A lot of us had a traumatic incident or extreme stress when IBS started. What if we were on the verge of sick from our food supply and then the extra stress pushed us over the edge. I really can't imagine that ammonia in your gut wouldn't cause bacterial problems!

When did doctors first start diagnosing IBS and have the numbers increased over time? Saw an article that said first IBS diagnosis in the '50's. Is there IBS in 3rd World Countries, or is this a rich nation disease. Do Quakers have issues with SIBO and IBS? Could we have IBS because our food chain is now run by a few very big farming companies who make decisions for financial reasons not health reasons?

I'd be interested to hear what everyone thinks. Has anyone tried eating organic and seen benefits from this?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

IBS was described by the ancient Greek physicians even though they didn't call it IBS.

Spastic Colon or other such words were used back to at least the 1920's in the medical literature.

Just because IBS is the modern name for it (and no one was diagnosed with IBS before the late 1960's as the term was coined, last time I checked, in something like 1967 or so and it took awhile before people used the name).

GI infections are definitely a major environmental trigger and that doesn't depend on modern food processing (although some types of processing can be problematic, the centuries with poor sanitation and no refrigeration probably didn't mean fewer cases of food poisoning or water borne illnesses).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irritable_bowel_syndrome#Epidemiology shows countries like Pakistan and Brazil have it in possibly higher amounts than the USA. but maybe they aren't third world enough?

But it is common that people say it just started in whatever year they want to use for whatever axe they want to grind and when that started and say it doesn't exist in places they think are more pure, etc.

There can be a lot of problems with eating processed food like substances, but I don't think there is a lot of evidence IBS never existed before (X year) just it wasn't called that since ancient times.

Although this paper from 1933 comes pretty close to calling it irritable bowel, and cause these problems functional.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18742613


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## IBS & Surviving (Jun 24, 2014)

Thanks Kathleen! I am so relieved to know this information. Lord knows, my diet is restricted enough that I don't need to look for more problems. However, I don't think I'm going to eat ground beef unless I see them grind it in the store!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I think most companies have stopped doing the pink slime thing after the publicity a year or two ago. I can't find any recent lists, most are from when all this blew up back in 2012 and a lot of companies dropped it after that so I'm not sure any of them are particularly current.


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## ukrkoz (Jul 27, 2014)

I saw that documentary too.

All I can add is that my symptoms started 3 years after moving to the USA, from another country where I lived for 38 years. There I ate anything, and because of heavy weight exercise, ate practically ten times a day. Never had a slightest burp in digestive system. And food their was full of starches, fats, and flour products.

But that's me. My wife, who came from same country and we are married for 34 years as of this month, still eats like a hog and never had any issues. Is in very good shape for a non exerciser. Makes me very envious, as my life is miserable and I am down to basic foods, everything is limited, etc.

I personally believe, that radical diet change did play role in my case but, being quite neurotic is likely playing even bigger role. I am constantly stressed out and nothing I can do about this. I tried.


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## watsoncenter (Jun 21, 2014)

I've definitely heard patients of mine (I'm a dietitian) like ukrkoz say their IBS developed after moving to the US from another country.

I think we can't deny that the changes in our food system have contributed to some extent to the rising rates of digestive problems in our country. (Though, of course, diagnosis is also better now too). I've heard some theories that the introduction of high fructose corn syrup into our diets in the 80s may have contributed because it feeds our gut bacteria, leading to overgrowth (SIBO). I don't know that there's any hard data on these ideas yet, but I personally can't help but to think our bodies are not able to adapt to the chemicals in our food supply. I don't think anyone needs to obsessively buy all organic foods (mostly because I don't think it's financially feasible for many of us), but I do think it makes sense to avoid the "dirty dozen" especially because we know these fruits and vegetables contain the most pesticide residue. I also am a fan of buying locally, including meats, because it's a good way to be sure your food is coming from a reputable supplier and to support the local farming community. I think anyone, IBS or not, will be healthiest and feel their best if they eat mostly whole, unprocessed foods, avoiding chemicals as much as possible. I'm not into fad diets at all, but my guess for the reason Paleo has been so popular is that people are giving up processed foods and feeling so much better on a whole foods diet!- Kate


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## lookingforanswers2014 (Jan 31, 2014)

hey , just some comments here. found the thread title interesting. i'm actually recently recovering from ibs. it really stupid cuz doctors perviously give me impression that there no cure n tried to put me on ppi which i read to be controvesial n could make things worse by lowering acid.

i think it is possible gmos can cause gut problem. after ibs, i didn;t know it at first but did find organic not cause discomfort(malaise feel) n gmo did.

even now as i 'm recovering, still gmos causes malaise though mild n organic doesn;t so i dunno. the way i counteract the maliase is with orgnaic fruit n vegetables though n it works.

so i don't want to definitively gmo was so powerful that it caused my problem. cuz i didn't know about gmo until recent years n been eating unknowingly for a long time. n don't get me wrong, still feel gmos bad stuff.

in my case i suspect i think i got a gut infection that i didn;t know how to take care of n got this ibs as result .

now i eat all kinds of organic food without any perceivable problem except gmo of course.

so look into vsl#3 n see if u wanna try.

*p.s.* , oh ibs & surviving, if u don;t mind ,how long have u had ibs? was it gut infection for u too or something else? i'm just curious on the different causes here.


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## Nojokeibs (Apr 14, 2014)

watsoncenter said:


> I've definitely heard patients of mine (I'm a dietitian) like ukrkoz say their IBS developed after moving to the US from another country.
> 
> I think we can't deny that the changes in our food system have contributed to some extent to the rising rates of digestive problems in our country. (Though, of course, diagnosis is also better now too). I've heard some theories that the introduction of high fructose corn syrup into our diets in the 80s may have contributed because it feeds our gut bacteria, leading to overgrowth (SIBO). I don't know that there's any hard data on these ideas yet, but I personally can't help but to think our bodies are not able to adapt to the chemicals in our food supply. I don't think anyone needs to obsessively buy all organic foods (mostly because I don't think it's financially feasible for many of us), but I do think it makes sense to avoid the "dirty dozen" especially because we know these fruits and vegetables contain the most pesticide residue. I also am a fan of buying locally, including meats, because it's a good way to be sure your food is coming from a reputable supplier and to support the local farming community. I think anyone, IBS or not, will be healthiest and feel their best if they eat mostly whole, unprocessed foods, avoiding chemicals as much as possible. I'm not into fad diets at all, but my guess for the reason Paleo has been so popular is that people are giving up processed foods and feeling so much better on a whole foods diet!- Kate


My family only in the past couple of generations came to the USA, so we have stories from the "old country." We did have people who had IBS like symptoms even back then, even when they were eating farm-fresh food every day. That said, many of us became MORE ill with our various sensitivities when we came here, and the first generation and second were particularly "sick" compared to the expected strength of people "back home." One thing we experienced here which we did not experience there is ADHD. Everyone in the second generation has it, EVERYONE. Nobody in two generations back did. I personally suspect that is because we were much more active in the "old country" and became more sedentary here and our epigenetics hasn't caught up. As John Ratey says, the cure really is exercise. I'm one of two people in my USA side of the family with gut issues, unless you count my cousin who's anorexic to the point of organ failure (in his 30's not a teenager, it's probably genetic, his grandfather was anorexic too). Basically, we're not doing well, and maybe some of it is the lifestyle effect, some of it is the food, some of it is our emotional life (never easy for any immigrant family), and some of it would've happened anyway, just maybe not so badly, based on genetics.

For me personally, my health went south quickly and horribly when I gave up my traditional diet to fit in with my American husband who's very picky about food. My advice is, if you have an inter-cultural marriage, cook the food you like. Eat different things if you must, but don't give it up. The damage is not worth it. For example, he refused to eat eggs for breakfast, so I adjusted and ate pancakes with him, or pastries. For years I did this. This one change alone might've led to my problems. He's a wonderful man, but I will no longer bow to his food preferences.


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