Hello and welcome to the Nutrition Facts podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger.

Now I know I'm known for explaining how not to do certain things. Just look at my books,

how not to die. The one I'm working on right now, how not to die it. But what I actually

have to share with you is quite positive and boils down to this. What's the best way

to live a healthy life? Here are some answers. Today we're going to talk about how our diet

affects Crohn's disease, an autoimmune disorder that can affect many parts of our digestive

tract. Diet centered around whole plant foods may help prevent Crohn's disease thanks to

the role of fiber, the maintenance of intestinal barrier function, and the avoidance of certain

processed food additives such as polysorbate, 80. Here's the story.

Crohn's disease is an autoimmune disorder that affects more than a million Americans,

inflammatory bowel disease, in which your body attacks your own intestines. There's currently

no cure for Crohn's disease and current research focuses on just controlling symptoms. There's

no definitive medical or surgical therapy. In fact, the best we have is a more plant-based

diet, which is afforded the best result in relapse prevention to date. They got the

idea to try it because diets rich in animal protein and animal fat haven't found to cause

a decrease in beneficial bacteria in the intestine. And so they designed this semi-vegetarian diet

to counter that in 100% state and remission the first year in 92% the second year. These

results are far better than those obtained by current drugs, including these new so-called

biological agents that can cost $40,000 a year and cause side effects like progressive

multifocal, lucho and cephalopthia, disabling a deadly brain disease, whereas the diet

doesn't cost 40k and the worst second happens to maybe get the green stuck in your teeth

or something, and diet appears to work better. What about preventing Crohn's disease in

...