Foods To Eat For Ulcer Relief
By Susan Melgren and Web Editor
It used to be thought that ulcers were the plight of middle-aged, overworked, stressed-out men who lived on a diet of greasy pizza and beer. Although theres always some truth in stereotypes, women are unfortunately just as susceptible to ulcers as men, and stress and diet arent the only factors that can lead to an ulcer.
Ulcers are caused when the mucus membrane lining the esophagus, stomach or upper intestine becomes compromised. In order to break down food, the stomach is filled with highly acidic gastric juices. The mucus membrane normally protects the organs, but if the amount of acid in the stomach increases or the mucus membrane weakens, ulcers, commonly known as peptic ulcers, can occur.
Peptic ulcers can be caused by a number of factors. Stress increases the stomachs output of acid, which can erode the stomachs lining. Long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs , a type of pain killer, can also increase acid production, and its well known that a diet of spicy and citric foods can result in ulcers. Some factors are outside of lifestyle changes, however. Many peptic ulcers are caused by a bacterial infection known as Helicobacter pylori.
Although the abdominal pain resulting from an ulcer will likely deter your appetite, one of the best roads to recovery is with a healthy diet in small portions. These five foods will set you on the right track!
Susan Melgren is the Web Editor of Mother Earth Living. Find her on .
Healthy Eating Guidelines For People With Peptic Ulcers
Healthy Eating & Physical Activity Categories
A peptic ulcer is a sore on the lining of your stomach or small intestine. Peptic ulcers include gastric ulcers that form in the stomach and duodenal ulcers that form at the beginning of the small intestine. The most common symptom of a peptic ulcer is a dull, burning pain in your stomach. Other symptoms may include bloating, burping, poor appetite, nausea, and weight loss.
Most peptic ulcers are caused by infection with the bacteria Helicobacter pylori . Long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and aspirin can also cause ulcers. Most ulcers are treated with medicines. Ulcers caused by H. pylori are usually treated with antibiotics. Ulcers caused by NSAIDs are often treated with medication that lowers the amount of stomach acid and by reducing or stopping NSAIDs.
No specific food has been shown to cause ulcers, but some may make your symptoms worse or may make it more difficult for your ulcer to heal. This resource provides healthy eating suggestions that can help you manage your ulcer.
Nutritional Assessment On Peptic Ulcer
It aims to identify possible nutritional alterations and determine properintervention to ensure the individuals’ health. Malnutrition in this case may occurespecially when there is stenosis, which prevents normal ingestion of foods.
For nutritional assessment, some important indicators are used in this process, suchas the anthropometric, biochemical, and clinical evaluations. The anthropometricassessment consists of weight and height measurements that may be used in conjunctionin the assessment of the nutritional status by means of BMI , butthis method does not distinguishes losses of fat or lean mass. In addition, weightmay be concealed by hyper-hydration or de-hydration, thus not resulting in anaccurate determination of the nutritional status in these specific cases.
Total body bioelectrical impedance is a method used to measure the body mass, liquidvolume, and body fat, being recognized by the Brazilian Ministry of Health and theFood and a Food and Drug Administration as a valuable technique for thispurpose. Indirectcalorimetry is a non-invasive method to determine the nutritional needs and theutilization rate of energy substrates from oxygen consumption and carbon dioxideproduction obtained by analysis of the inhaled and exhaled air by the lungs.
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Foods To Avoid If You Have A Stomach Ulcer
While antibiotics and antacids may be needed to treat a stomach ulcer, there are certain foods that can exacerbate the symptoms including pain, a burning sensation, indigestion, gas, nausea and vomiting.
A stomach ulcer, also known as a peptic ulcer, occurs when open sores develop on the inner lining of the stomach or the upper portion of the small intestine.
Peptic ulcers are of two types: gastric ulcers that are in the stomach and duodenal ulcers that are in the upper portion of the small intestine.
The most common cause of peptic ulcers is an infection due to the bacterium Helicobacter pylori . Other causes include long-term use of aspirin and certain other painkillers, such as ibuprofen and naproxen sodium.
The most common symptom of a peptic ulcer is stomach pain. Stomach acid makes the pain worse, as does having an empty stomach. Other symptoms include a feeling of fullness, bloating, fatty food intolerance, heartburn, weakness, loss of appetite and unexplained weight loss.
People are at an increased risk of suffering from a stomach ulcer if they smoke a lot, drink alcohol in excess, lead a stressful life and eat spicy foods.
It is important to consult your doctor if you think you have a stomach ulcer. Your doctor may prescribe an antibiotic to treat the bacterial infection and recommend antacids to reduce the acid in the digestive tract.
Here are some of the foods to avoid if you suffer from a stomach ulcer.
Contents
Healthy Diet For Peptic Ulcer
A healthy diet is necessary to help aid in the healing of a peptic ulcer. But what exactly does that mean? Here are a few dietary guidelines to keep in mind if you have a peptic ulcer.
- Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and smoking.
- Avoid milk and dairy products as they promote acid secretion.
- Eat smaller amounts of food more often instead of large meals.
- Dont let your stomach remain empty for prolonged periods of time.
- Drink peppermint and chamomile tea, which can soothe the lining of the digestive tract.
- Take a teaspoon of aloe vera juice after meals.
- Consume foods high in vitamin C for prevention.
- Consume plenty of fiber.
- Eat foods high in flavonoids like apples, celery, and cranberries.
- Avoid spicy foods as some patients report worsened symptoms.
- Cut down on red meat.
Here is a list of foods and beverages you should avoid if you have a peptic ulcer.
- Hot chocolate and coffee
- Whole milk and chocolate milk
- Alcoholic beverages
- Spicy or strong flavored foods like peppers or strong cheeses
- Tomato products
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Cabbage Can Help Prevent Ulcers
Scientists think that it may be the amino acid glutamine that gives cabbage its anti-ulcer punch. Glutamine helps to fortify the mucosal lining of the gut and to improve blood flow to the stomach, meaning it not only helps prevent ulcers but can also speed healing of existing sores.
Recommended dose: Eat two cups of raw cabbage daily. Add it to salads, coleslaw, and wraps. You can also drink raw cabbage juice, sold in health food stores. Drink a quart a day for three weeks ifyou can stand it!
Find out more easy ways to improve gut health.
Best Foods To Eat When You Have A Stomach Ulcer
Stomach ulcers may require lifestyle and dietary changes to manage them while they are healing. Acid reducing medications may also be beneficial. Previously, a bland diet was recommended for stomach ulcers but current research does not support that idea.
Dietary modifications can help, but spicy foods arent necessarily an irritant. Doctors now emphasize a diet rich in vegetables and fruits. The best foods to eat when you have a stomach ulcer include:
Dietary fiber
This includes oats, legumes, flax seeds, nuts, oranges, apples, and carrots. These foods are good for you because they can help prevent ulcers from developing.
Vitamin A rich foods
Foods like broccoli, sweet potatoes, kale, spinach, and collard greens contain vitamin A. These foods increase the mucus production in your gastrointestinal tract, which some believe can help prevent ulcers.
Green tea
Emerging research indicates that green tea can help fight off H. pylori.
Flavonoid-rich foods
This includes garlic, onions, cranberries, strawberries, blueberries, and snap peas. Research suggests that these foods can help protect your gut against chronic gastritis, H. pylori infection, and stomach cancer. These foods help inhibit H. pylori growth.
Cranberry juice
This tart juice can potentially reduce the risk of H. pylori overgrowth in your stomach and prevent inflammation.
There are certain foods that could irritate your stomach ulcer, and it might be a good idea to limit them. Those foods include:
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Characteristics Of Nutritional Therapy
The objective of peptic ulcer dietotherapy is to prevent hyper secretion of pepticchloride in order to reduce the sore and pain in the gastric and duodenal mucosa. Inaddition, nutritional therapy aims to promote healing, based on a complex sequence ofevents going from the initial trauma to the repair of the damaged tissue.Investigation of nutritional deficiencies is essential in the preparation of anappropriate recovery diet. In the early 20th century, Sippy proposed adiet based on milk and milk cream, combined with antacids, for treatment ofgastrointestinal ulcer, based on the principle that milk would provide gastricalkalinization and relieve pain. Today milk is not recommended due to the bufferingeffect and the significant gastric acid secretion effect of milk29.
According to Marrota and Floch,calories distribution for patients with peptic ulcer should be normal, with valuesranging from 50-60% of carbohydrates, 10-15% of proteins, and 25-30% of lipids, withtotal energy value sufficient to maintain or recover the nutritional status.
So How Do They Work Exactly
Antioxidant-rich foods like cherries, blueberries, kale, and spinach boost your immune system to more effectively fight infections and even help ward off stomach cancer.
Whats more, mom was right about forcing you to eat broccoli. Research indicates that sulforaphane, a compound found in broccoli, shows anti-H. pylori functionality.
Probiotic foods can be a little more complicated to work into your diet, but they are worth the effort! Clinical studies indicate loading up on foods like miso, sauerkraut, and kimchi are like kryptonite for H. pylori bacteria.
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Yogurt With Active Cultures Can Help Prevent Ulcers
Foods like yogurt and kefir contain good bacteria that can inhibit H. pylori and may help ulcers heal faster. In one large study in Sweden, people who ate fermented milk products like yogurt at least three times a week were much less likely to have ulcers than people who ate yogurt less often.
Recommended dose: Have a cup of yogurt, kefir, or another fermented milk product with live, active cultures at least once a day. Avoid sweetened varieties, which are less effective.
Never ignore these ulcer symptoms.
Foods To Avoid In Gastritis And Peptic Ulcer Disease
A variety of foods and drinks can exacerbate symptoms such as stomach pain in patients suffering from gastritis and peptic ulcer disease. However, the exact food that may worsen abdominal pain and discomfort varies on an individual basis. Keeping a food diary will help in identifying the offending foods.
Even though there may not yet be any scientific or medical explanation for why certain foods worsen the symptoms of gastritis and peptic ulcer disease, it is best to avoid foods and drinks that are known to be irritants for most people with gastritis or peptic ulcers, such as with spicy foods.
Most patients are usually aware of the trigger foods and drinks that exacerbate their symptoms. However, in some cases, elimination diets may need to be followed to identify the offending foods. Eosinophilic gastritis is an example of a condition that can benefit from following an elimination diet.
Milk and dairy products are common offending foods in eosinophilic gastritis, which is an immune-mediated condition. However, avoiding milk and dairy products offer limited benefits in other types of gastritis. In fact, milk intake may provide temporary relief from gastric pain in many cases of peptic ulcer and gastritis. This can be attributed to the alkaline nature of milk, which can neutralize stomach acid to some extent.
Some of the foods that have been commonly reported to trigger or exacerbate abdominal pain and discomfort in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease include the following:
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Having The Stomach For A Healthy And Happy Life
Being diagnosed with stomach ulcers is a kick in the guts. Literally. But this condition shouldnt stop you from living a full and healthy life. Here are some tips to help you keep your stomach happy while you are addressing your stomach ulcers.
Eating To Fight Peptic Ulcers
People used to say stomach ulcers were caused by too much stress or spicy food, and the best thing to do when the pain flared up was to drink a nice big glass of milk. It turns out everything about that statement was wrong.
What they are
A peptic ulcer is an open sore that develops on the inside lining of the stomach and the upper portion of the small intestine. They typically cause burning stomach pain, especially when the stomach is empty. They also may cause bloating, belching, heartburn, nausea, or intolerance to fatty foods. Occasionally, ulcers can cause severe symptoms, like blood in vomit or stools, or trouble breathing, and can lead to gastric cancer.
Since 1982, when scientists discovered that many peptic ulcers are caused by a bacterium called H. pylori, antibiotics, along with medicines that decrease stomach acid, have been the main treatment. Ulcers also can be caused by over-the-counter pain medications, including aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen sodium , but not acetaminophen . Smoking and stress can make ulcers worse.
What to eat
What may help
For ulcers caused by H. pylori, a 2015 review in the journal Nutrition Research explored which foods help, and which dont. The following foods and extracts are the most promising choices to help fight H. pylori:
Probiotics in yogurt, the fermented milk product kefir, and commercial probiotic products may help standard therapy work better and could lessen treatment side effects .
What may not help
Bottom line
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Stomach Ulcer Diet Menu
While there is no specific stomach ulcer diet menu recommended for someone with an ulcer, reducing the growth of ulcer-causing bacteria is possible with some foods. These foods include apples, blueberries, blackberries, radishes, cherries, bell peppers, leafy greens, yogurt, kefir, miso, sauerkraut, olive oil, honey, turmeric, garlic, carrots and broccoli. You can make some ulcer-friendly recipes from these ingredients as well.
These foods have been shown to combat the growth of H. pylori, a known cause of stomach ulcers. A study published July 2016 in Przeglad Gastroenterolgiczny found these foods contain substances with a potent antibacterial activity to fight against H. pylori.
Foods such as yogurt, kefir, miso, and sauerkraut provide probiotics. Consuming probiotic foods when you have an ulcer is important. People with ulcers are required to take antibiotics as part of their treatment and recovery. Ulcers frequently come with symptoms of acid reflux. Avoiding coffee, chocolate, spicy food, alcohol, acidic foods and caffeine will help to reduce symptoms of acid reflux during recovery.
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Foods To Include For Ulcers
Fruits
Fresh fruits are a great source of beneficial fibre, polyphenols and antioxidants that contribute to overall health and build a robust immune system. Berries, apples, grapes and pomegranates are some of the preferred choices for promoting ulcer healing.
Vegetables
Green leaves, bright red and orange veggies and cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli and kale are laden with essential vitamins and antioxidants that are valuable for uplifting total well-being and healing.
Lean Proteins
Skinned chicken, lean meat, fish, eggs, tofu, tempeh, beans and peas are excellent sources of low-fat protein that fasten the healing process. While fatty fish offer a huge amount of omega 3 fats that help to lessen inflammation and also valuable in preventing other forms of ulcer.
Fermented Dairy Foods
Yoghurt and kefir are a good source of probiotics along with the protein that supports gut growth of microbiome, lessen irritation and treats ulcer.
Whole grain cereals
Choose from a wide range of whole-grain bread, oats, quinoa, millet or sorghum are abundant sources of fiber and good carbs that help to replenish energy levels and recuperate well.
Herbs And Spices
Turmeric, cinnamon, ginger and garlic a good lot of spices and herbs that are powerful sources of health benefitting antioxidants and also exhibits strong antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory traits to support healing of the ulcer.
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What Are The Causes Of Peptic Ulcers
The most common causes of peptic ulcers has been found to be Helicobacter pylori infection which invade the intestinal lining and damage it while proliferating. Also, indiscriminate use of NSAIDs has found to precipitate peptic ulcers.
Alcohol & tobacco intake as well as consumption of oily, spicy foods may worsen the condition of peptic ulcers, but has not been found to cause them. The most common, first line treatment for ulcers is administration of antacids and proton pump inhibitors which dilute the concentration of acid secretions in the stomach or reduce the acid production respectively.
Dietary Fibre & Vitamin A
Research shows that a high fibre diet decreases the risk of developing ulcer disease. Although both insoluble and soluble fibres demonstrate this association, there is a stronger association between diets high in soluble fibre and a decreased risk for developing ulcers.
Foods that are high in soluble fibre include oats, psyllium husk, legumes, flax seeds, barley, nuts, and certain vegetables and fruits, such as oranges, apples, and carrots.
Findings from a prospective cohort study that included 47,806 men, showed that a diet rich in vitamin A from all sources might reduce the development of duodenal ulcer, as might diets high in fruits and vegetables, possibly due to their fibre content.2 A prospective cohort study follows, over time, a group of similar individuals who differ with respect to certain factors under study, to determine how these factors affect rates of a certain outcome however, more research is necessary to verify results because there are so many other factors involved with this type of study that could confound the data.
Animal studies demonstrate that vitamin A increases the production of mucus in the gastrointestinal tract. Impaired mucosal defense can allow ulcers to develop. Therefore, vitamin A may have a protective effect against the development of ulcer disease.3
Good sources of vitamin A include liver, carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, kale, spinach, and collard greens.
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