Why do we need to take diarrhoea seriously?
Persistent diarrhoea can lead to dehydration and mineral deficiencies. It also affects how nutrients are absorbed from the gut, which prevents the body from getting what it needs. This leads to further complications.
In adults, it is defined as the passage of three or more loose or liquid stools per day. Medication can be taken to ease diarrhoea, stomach pain and cramps, but is unable to deal with the root cause of the problem. Medication merely treats the symptoms.
It is important to determine what the root cause is so that it can be treated in a targeted manner in order to prevent complications.
What causes chronic diarrhoea?
The most frequent causes are:
- Mental and physical stress (stress and irritation aggravate complaints)
- Nutrition (intolerances, diet, eating patterns)
Diet and diarrhoea
Diarrhoea is commonly caused by an individual’s diet or food intolerances. A delayed food allergy for example, is one possible cause which frequently goes unrecognised. When somebody has a food allergy, their immune system identifies innocuous food molecules as harmful when they pass from the gut into the bloodstream. The immune system then responds by producing antibodies. This can lead to the chronic inflammation of the intestinal mucosa and diarrhoea.
The solution is to avoid the food that caused this reaction for a certain amount of time. This interrupts the immune response, allowing the inflammation to heal, the gut to recover, and the chronic diarrhoea to subside. The food can then gradually be reintroduced into the diet. Since the symptoms of a delayed food allergy only occur hours to days after the food in question has been eaten, food intolerances are almost impossible to detect through observation alone. However, the ImuPro blood test can be used to detect elevated levels of antibodies specific to certain foods. This then makes it possible to identify intolerances to certain foods and make the necessary changes to an individual’s diet.
More information about food intolerances and delayed food allergies is available at www.imupro.com.
