Those are the unpleasant companions of inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, which affect up to 1 million Americans, according to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Although the exact cause of inflammatory bowel disease is unknown, research suggests that the body's own immune system contributes to the chronic intestinal inflammation that marks the disease. Emerging research, however, holds out hope that antioxidant substances could help in the battle to reduce this inflammation.
Antioxidants work by neutralizing oxidative agents that stress and injure parts of the body.
Matthew Grisham, PhD, professor of biochemistry at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, presented his research on antioxidants and inflammatory bowel disease at the recent Experimental Biology 2001 meeting. For his study, Grisham and colleagues gave a powerful antioxidant to mice with inflammatory bowel disease. The antioxidant, which was put in the animals' water, helped raise the level of a naturally occurring antioxidant called glutathione, he says. The amount of inflammation was significantly reduced after the mice drank the antioxidant-spiked water. During the inflammatory process, their antioxidant levels are depressed compared with a healthy person.