Crohn’s Weekend Links: Enterovirus, Red Meat & Colon Cancer, LDN for Crohn’s, Vitamin D and Crohn’s

Crohn’s and Enterovirus

                Apparently in children there may be a link between Crohn’s and enterovirus within the intestinal area. The enterovirus could be seen in deeper parts of the intestinal wall. The enterovirus is stored in the nerve cells of the intestine and can spread by other nerve fibers within the intestine.  Hopefully a study on adults can be done.

Red Meat and Colon Cancer

                This really isn’t news in a way. I did blog here about the medical literature on reducing colon cancer (one was to avoid red meat). This study just further confirms that avoiding foods like roast beef (which I love), hot dogs, and sausage can contribute to colon cancer.  Since 1991 colon cancer has declined by 30% for colon cancer which is good but colon cancer can be fatal if not caught early enough.

Low Dose Naltrexone FDA Meeting

                It is good news that TNI BioTech company is having a Type C meeting with the FDA to look over the Phase III trial for Naltrexone HCL. Research from Dr. Jill Smith shows that LDN helped 67% of patients achieve remission (this was back in 2007) and the drug is still not on the market.  LDN really doesn’t have any adverse side effects other than vivid dreams which sounds interesting.

Vitamin D Helps Crohn’s

                This study found that 5,000 IU/d reduced CDAI scores for Crohn’s disease which suggests that Vitamin D might be useful for people with mild-moderate Crohn’s disease.