Crohn’s is an inflammatory bowel disease that can affect any part of the digestive tract, however it’s normally the distal small bowel and colon that is impacted.

Living with Crohn’s Disease can be an overwhelming and stressful experience, the unpredictable nature of flare-ups, fatigue, pain and bowel changes can cause high levels of anxiety when you are experiencing a flare.

Whilst Crohn’s is a complex Autoimmune Condition and does require medical support and management as part of the team you work with, there is a growing area of research coming through that suggests supporting your gut health and your microbiome can play a huge role in improving your symptoms and your long term well being.

The cause of Crohn’s isn’t fully understood at this point, however what evidence does suggest is it’s probably a mix of genetic disposition and poor microbiome health.

There are multiple microbiome species that we know are incredibly anti-inflammatory and gut healing whilst supporting a healthy environment within the gut. We also know, on the flipside, there’s a heap of microbiome species in the gut that are highly inflammatory and in particular when it comes to Crohn’s, those patients seem to have higher numbers of those microbes.

The gut microbiome itself is full of millions of different micro-organisms that should live happily and in harmony with each other, regulating your immune system, supporting healthy digestive and bowel function, reducing inflammation and protecting you against diseases.

The reality of the microbiome and Crohn’s and some of the things we often see are:

• Reduced microbial diversity
• An overgrowth of inflammatory microbe and an under growth of ani-inflammatory microbes
• Increased Intestinal Permeability (Leaky Gut)

If you have Crohn’s it’s important to understand that no two people will necessarily respond to treatments the same way. Putting together a team that is focussed on you and your individual health needs is important and understanding your unique microbiome composition is essential – So where do we start.

Firstly – Microbiome Testing:

In depth microbiome testing will tell us so much about what is going on within your gut. As they can be expensive it’s important to choose the right test as they don’t all give us the same amount of information.

Secondly – Targeted Nutritional Therapy:

Food can make things better or worse, however, sadly enough with the medical profession it’s not given the amount of respect it actually deserves. Many foods are inflammatory and feed those bacteria that create inflammation in the body so it’s imperative to choose an anti-inflammatory diet (which in turn helps to reduce oxidative stress) which focuses on foods that the healthy microbes love to eat. Other things you need to do are stop alcohol and smoking or vaping as these have an impact on the health of your intestinal lining.

Thirdly – Restore the Gut Barrier:

The stronger the gut lining the better we can prevent inflammatory flare ups. The nutrients to repair the gut lining include glutamine, Zinc Carnosine, certain probiotic strains and Essential Fatty Acids, to name a few things.

Fourthly – Microbiome Modulation:

When the inflammation is getting under control then we need to focus on the microbiome even more closely – feed the healthy microbes – and we often do this with specific pre and probiotics which need to be targeting your individual needs (this is often determined by the Microbiome Test results).

And lastly – Support the Nervous System:

Living with a chronic illness can cause a lot of stress and anxiety around when the next flare up may happen or if you are someone prone to experiencing anxiety, it may leave you at risk of more flare ups. Considering practices that support your mental health such as yoga or meditation will help manage this.