Recent reports in the news discussed a significant increase in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Canadian children…7.5% each year between 1999 and 2010. IBD most commonly begins around age 20, and in the past has almost never been seen in children less than 5 years old. But now, even babies are being diagnosed with it. So, what is happening?
IBD is a group of diseases that include Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. These are lifelong diseases with no cure… medications only control and reduce the symptoms to a varying extent, depending on the individual patient’s response. Those affected experience recurring bouts of abdominal pain, cramps, diarrhea and severe fatigue.
Almost 250,000 cases have been diagnosed in Canada, and 10,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. The cause is vaguely described as likely being a combination of hereditary and environmental factors that trigger the immune system to malfunction and attack the digestive system. As well as genetics and environment, vitamin D and gut bacteria have been proposed as being involved in the cause.
Lack of vitamin D has been linked to increased inflammation and pain. In northern countries like Canada, insufficient sunshine is available to enable production of adequate vitamin D during the winter months, putting people at increased risk of deficiency.
As well, babies under 6 months are recommended to be kept out of sunlight and to be protected with sunscreens after 6 months of age. Since breast milk does not contain adequate vitamin D and without sun exposure babies are unlikely to produce adequate amounts of their own vitamin D, supplementation of 400iu per day is recommended.
During birth and early life, babies are exposed to their mothers’ bacterial flora. With antibiotic use, however, good bacteria are destroyed along with the infectious bacteria, so mothers do not always have the ideal bacteria to share with their infants.
In my previous blog reviewing the book Bacteria for Breakfast, I discussed how the type of bacteria in our digestive system can influence the function of the immune system. It seems to me that correcting the balance of bacteria in the digestive system should be part of the basic treatment for any autoimmune disease...or a strategy for prevention.
Standard treatments for inflammatory bowel disease, however, tend to ignore the environmental factors that might prevent the disease if avoided or changed…instead they focus on which elements of the immune system can be blocked by drugs to reduce the inflammatory response in the bowel. Since they don't correct the underlying problem, these drugs are needed lifelong to control symptoms…certainly more lucrative than finding and correcting the underlying cause. Perhaps this is the reason researchers are not addressing the root of the immune malfunction.
However, you don't need a prescription to replace vitamin D or try probiotics. Both are safe to take, even for young children, as long as recommended daily amounts of vitamin D are used. Specially formulated versions of vitamin D and probiotics are available for children and even for young babies.
With an increase in an inflammatory disease like IBD and other immune dysfunction conditions such as allergies, perhaps gut bacterial health and vitamin D status will be given greater consideration in childcare recommendations, and will become an increased focus of research for possible causes of the increase of inflammatory diseases in children.
The role of inflammation in chronic diseases is an area of current study for me and in upcoming blogs I plan to address this topic further…sign up for my mailing list if you’d like to receive notice of these postings!
