The title is a little misleading. Diverticulosis is a condition in which a person has developed diverticula – small pouch-like structures – in the digestive system. Normally, they’re harmless and may persist for long periods, even a lifetime. It’s only when they become infected or inflamed that diverticulitis, the actual illness, occurs, generally to about [...]

Scare stories and hype abound in health articles and have for generations. It’s no shame to want to help people, or sell them products and services. Quite the contrary, both sides benefit from good information and good deals. But there are few areas where there is so much that falls only a little bit short [...]

IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) is such a nebulous condition it can be difficult to identify as a distinct illness at all. The most common symptoms are abdominal cramping, bloating and gas, and diarrhea or constipation. With such normal signs as that – which can occur with dozens of other, more serious conditions – it can [...]

It’s a myth that 90% of disease starts in the colon. But it’s still true that this section of the large intestine is one major factor in overall health. Making up most of the five feet or so of the large intestine (along with the rectum, the final six inches), you can help keep yours [...]

We don’t normally like to think of it but humans have a symbiotic relationship with many tiny organisms. ‘Symbiosis’ means two or more species interacting, sometimes very closely, and gaining mutual benefit from the relationship. ‘Closely’, in this case, actually means: inside our bodies. The intestinal flora that live inside our colon is a good [...]

Crohn’s disease is one among many digestive disorders in which the lining becomes inflamed. That inflammation produces ulcers (lesions or open sores in the lining) that produce abdominal pain and diarrhea. It is often progressive and leads to even more serious health consequences. The cause(s) of the disease are not known, but an abnormal immune [...]

A colonoscopy is a medical procedure that uses a long, thin tube with a tiny camera at the tip to visually examine the large intestine. It’s used as a diagnostic tool in the investigation of a wide variety of possible digestive system conditions, such as Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, and colorectal cancers. The procedure actually begins [...]

The term ‘ulcer’ means, in the most general sense, a lesion anywhere but more often in the digestive tract. It’s often used, though, as a shorthand term for the phrase ‘peptic ulcer’. The latter isn’t a condition of the colon – the major portion of the large intestine – at all. It affects the stomach [...]

The colon forms the largest part of the large intestine, the ‘tube’ through which digested food passes. That food is joined by digestive juices, including stomach acid and bile, on its route through the digestive system. That semi-fluid mass, known as chyme, isn’t all just waste, though. A great many things happen to it on [...]

Your colon does much more than just expel digested food. It’s a major contributor to your overall health. You can help keep it healthy in turn to perform that job by adopting the right diet. You’ve probably heard that eating fiber helps, and there’s a lot of evidence for that. Like any topic in nutrition [...]