The amino acid L-Glutamine has been shown to possess healing affects on gastrointestinal mucosa. Fish oil, containing the vital Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid EPA, can help break the inflammatory cycle in colitis as it does in rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Certain short-chain fatty acids, especially butyrate, work well in colitis when administered orally or via enema. Many vitamins and minerals play a supportive role in GI tissue repair, but since IBD impairs digestion and absorption, a vicious cycle of nutritional decline can easily perpetuate itself. A very high percentage of IBD sufferers are malnourished.
Statistics show many to be protein-calorie deficient.
Many suffer from bleeding which leaves them iron-deficient. Diarrhea promotes depletion of water-soluble vitamins and essential minerals like zinc and magnesium. Folic acid poses a particular problem in IBD because drugs commonly used to treat the disease like Azulfidine deplete folate. This is of particular concern since folic acid helps regenerate tissue and prevents transformation of chronically inflamed tissue to cancer. High-dose folate can act as a preventative.