Good morning and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition, brought to you by nutritional weight and wellness.

We have had many listeners request to show about diverticulosis and diverticulitis, so I think this is timely.

It is interesting to know that 30% of U.S. adults between the ages of 50 to 59 have diverticulosis, and 70% of those older than 80

struggle with diverticulosis. Surprising, Brittany? Big numbers. Big numbers. Yeah. The Cleveland

clinics reported that almost everyone over the age of 80 has diverticulosis. Today we want to explain

the difference between diverticulosis and diverticulitis. In addition, we want to describe what is

happening in the colon when you have those conditions. We also plan to discuss on an eating plan to avoid these conditions. Good morning.

I'm Melanie Beasley. I'm a registered and licensed dietitian. I work mainly out of the Egan office,

but I also work with clients throughout the U.S. through Zoom appointments, which I love. Get to see

their home, their pets. It's great. Yes, it is fun.

I've been registered dietitian for over 30 years. So I have seen and heard a lot.

I can only imagine. When dinosaurs roam the earth, Brittany. Joining me as our co-host is Brittany

Vincent, who is very experienced dietitian also,

and we both work with difficult cases, yes? Yes. Well, I mean, I remember learning about this

in school and diverticulitis, diverticulosis. It got, I got confused. So we're going to clear all that up and and talk about what each of those individual conditions are. So let's first dig into what is diverticulosis. First of all, it is a fairly common and common condition and it usually doesn't cause

symptoms or even need treatment and people get diagnosed with this from a colonoscopy.

But when the condition becomes diverticulitis, which means there's an infection and inflammation,

anything withitis means inflammation. Anything with itis means inflammation. Then with

diverticulitis treatment is absolutely required at that point. Very painful. Yes. Very painful.

Well, both diverticulosis and diverticulitis occur in your large intestine or your colon. Often people develop pockets or bulges in the

wall of the colon and these pockets are called diverticula. So what causes these pockets or

these diverticula? Usually the cause is from excess pressure inside the colon.

...