Vitamin D supplements could ease irritable bowel syndrome

Vitamin D supplements could ease painful Irritable Bowel Syndrome IBS symptoms. Scientists from the University's Department of Oncology and Metabolism reviewed and integrated all available research on vitamin D and IBS. The study showed a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in IBS patients. They also assessed the possible benefits of vitamin D supplements on IBS symptoms. Their findings suggested supplements may help to ease symptoms which can include abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea and constipation. Vitamin D was shown to have the most benefit on quality of life in IBS.

People with IBS should have their vitamin D levels tested and a large majority of them would benefit from supplements. IBS is a poor condition which impacts severely on the quality of life of sufferers. There is no single known cause and no cure. IBS is a debilitating functional disorder of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Little is known about why and how the condition develops, although it is known that diet and stress can make symptoms worse.

Vitamin D is essential for general wellbeing, including bone health, immune function, mental health as well as gut health. Vitamin D inadequacy can be remedied relatively easily with supplements if diagnosed. Low vitamin D status has already been associated with the risk of colorectal cancer and has been implicated in inflammatory bowel disease.
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Aspiring not effective for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation patients

Atrial fibrillation (A-fib) is a condition of irregular heartbeat, it can leads to cardiovascular events like: stroke, blood clots and heart failure.

The most common treatment for A-fib patients is prescribing anticoagulants, or blood thinners. Some people with A-fib may also have a catheter ablation - a medical procedure that uses energy to damage a small part of heart tissue, thus stopping abnormal electrical signals from traveling through the heart.

Some of the risks associated with cardiac catheter ablation include bleeding or blood vessel damage.

However, as Dr. Jared Bunch - the lead author of the new research - explains, when patients with A-fib have had an ablation and also have a low risk of stroke, physicians prefer to treat them with aspirin instead of blood thinners in order to further reduce the risk of stroke.

In the new study, Dr. Bunch and his colleagues examined the effect of long-term aspirin use on patients with A-fib who underwent an ablation.

Putting their new research into perspective, Dr. Bunch explains, "What was unknown was if aspirin was a safe and effective stroke prevention treatment after an ablation in lower-risk AF [atrial fibrillation] patients.

Aspirin has no benefit for stroke prevention in patients with A- fib. The study examined 4,124 patients with A-fib over a period of 3 years. The participants had a low risk of stroke, and they had undergone catheter ablation.

Dr Bunch and colleagues discovered that patients that used aspiring were significantly more likely to have gastrointestinal and genitourinary bleeding than those who took anticoagulants such as warfarin, or compared with those who did not receive any treatment.

Chili peppers may reduce gut inflammation

Capsaicin is an active component of chili peppers that give them heat to targets a receptor in the gut and produces anandamide.

Anandamide produced by capsaicin reduces inflammation in the guts of mice, it summonings anti-inflammatory immune cells and reverse type 1 diabetes in rodents.

Chilli peppers and edible marijuana may provide treatment for type 1 diabetes and inflammation of the colon.

Capsaicin in chilli pepper attacks and attach to a receptor known as TRPVI that is present in gastrointestinal cells and produce more anandamide.