Dark bitter chocolate has been good for my UC.

I eat 85% or higher content chocolate bars because of the extremely high antioxidant levels and to see if the nitric oxide releasing properties of it effect my UC. Certain people with UC have dysfunctional nitric oxide levels. So far after 2 weeks I feel just fine. Of course I'm not bleeding and chocolate acts like an 81 mg aspirin tablet on blood clotting ability ; albeit not as long lasting without the gastro side effects of aspirin.

Between the high fiber and antioxidant levels of beans plus the high levels of antioxidants in dark chocolate I'm helping my colon deal with the high levels of oxidants from the inflammation present in those with UC.

from Wikipedia.com...
"...Relatively strong reducing acids can have anti-nutritional effects by binding to dietary minerals such as iron and zinc in the gastrointestinal tract and preventing them from being absorbed.[134] Notable examples are oxalic acid, tannins and phytic acid, which are high in plant-based diets."

Horus - I'm glad you found a tasty treat that helps you! Definitely sounds better than aspirin!

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Pan-colitis and GERD diagnosed May 2003

 

Asacol 12 per day,  Azathioprine 75mg, Rowasa and Canasa as needed

Aciphex, Effexor XR, BCP, Rhinocort nasal spray

Culturelle, Biotin, Folic Acid, Forvia, Calcium, and B12

 

Osteopenia (hip and spine) from prednisone use.  Started Azathioprine because I was steroid dependent.

 

Co-Mod for the UC forum

Keep HealingWell running smoothly:  www.healingwell.com/donate

Yes I'm very well aware of the high oxalic acid content of this chocolate. I consume about 1/4 of a bar per day. I drink 2 liters of water a day to minimize the chances of any kidney stones and avoid calcium consumption at this time. What you don't realize is the oxalic acid ALSO binds with IRON -something I DO want as excess iron in the colon creates reactive oxides that are very deleterious to the that already compromised environment. I am not anemic so this is a positive thing especially around the time I would consume red meats or meats of any kind for that matter as it absorbs the excess iron from these sources. Too much oral iron is a bad thing.

Another thing that I am trying for is to see what the nitric oxide release does for my uc. Normally inducible nitric oxide is a bad thing for UC but I couldn't find any good info on the kind of nitric oxide chocolate helps release and my educated guess is that it's form is ENOS- endothelial nitric oxide which is the good kind that is helpful for UC. So far so good.

It also has a mild blood pressure lowering affect and might help with those that have clotting issues with UC. I am not one of them.

Let's not forget the serotonin boost.

But the real beauty of this is the anti diarheal properties of dark chocolate. Perhaps this info in this link will help you out a bit.

http://www.mercola.com/2005/oct/27/chocolate_a_natural_anti-diarrheal.htm

Anecdotal. No, I don't think so.

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Post Edited (Burli) : 9/28/2007 7:09:09 AM (GMT-6)

Thanks for the additional indepth info about chocolate..........something else to tell hubby about....I can hear him now...lol.

It seems like every thing he does or eats I have something to report about. (some could call it nagging) He loves his popsicles and milk duds at night. I'll "gently" remind him and report to him the above info from the posts. He also picked up some mini snack size milky ways the other night.............sometimes no matter what you say or how you say it the person on the other end interprets it differently. However with him feeling better he is certainly less cranky these days.

As a side note, we were at friends playing cards a week ago and they put out Russell Stover sugar free candy. He had 3 pieces in the course of the evening as we know that type of chocolate can go right through you. When he got home it did act like a laxative but the timing was good as he might have been constipated otherwise and it made for a good BM. Normally something like that would not be the case but it turned out to his advantage that night.

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60 yr old male~Colitis 1st diagnosed Jan '05-cleared up within a few wks. Flared again in May '06 ... left sided UC now, fully involved and trying to get in remission. Acute inflammation-pancolitis-tenesmus rectal pain-granulation is showing some healing started. Osteopena of spine from prednisone DX 8/07  July 07 good days & bad days 75mg Imuran 40  mg prednisone (tapering 8/07) 12 Asacol, Lidocaine Hydrochloride Jelly 2%,multi vitamin, iron 3X day, DanActive, chewable calcium, Prilosec 20mg, enalapril 10mg, glipizide 5 mg, zocor 20 mg, baby aspirin, (Fentanyl pain patch 50mg 72 hrs  Morphine Sulf 15 mg twice daily)Colocourt enemas at night. Fosamax and mthly B12 shots folic acid 1mg

Had you read the original post that started this thread more carefully, or perhaps if you were more careful with your context on what you try to point out, people wouldn't get the wrong idea about this. Anyone can read the first paragraph of the first post in this thread from me and see clearly that the real sentence you so carefully try to manipulate into something it is not, actually says when taken as a whole that

"Of course I'm not bleeding and chocolate acts like an 81 mg aspirin tablet on blood clotting ability ; albeit not as long lasting without the gastro side effects of aspirin." When taken as a WHOLE sentence people don't get led into believing that if you are bleeding it's not a problem. Hence I included the part about "I'm not bleeding...acts like an 81 mg aspirin, etc." See how that works? If someone were to read my remarks and somehow doesn't understand that when I say I'm not bleeding and that chocolate acts like an aspirin and effects blood clotting ability I'd hope they get the idea that if one were bleeding they'd be careful when consuming chocolate. Maybe I give people here too much credit for being smart.


Your remark about eating chocolate may do some people more harm than good is lacking any evidence. Care to prove your statment with some facts? If we are talking someone who is severely aneamic and bleeding perfusely - I'm assuming these people don't need to be told this hence my warning about aspirin and me not bleeding which again you so cleverly left out.

Post Edited (Horus) : 9/28/2007 7:47:33 AM (GMT-6)

I eat dark chocolate everyday! It is the one thing i have refused to gove up. I did give it up for over a year at one point and i never will again. Even if it wasn't beneficial in any way...i love dark chocolate!!

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Kelly, 29

Left sided UC diagnosed 1/98 age 19, Pan colitis diagnosed 1/07
Currently on 4x3 Asacol, Rowasa every other night, down to 15 mg pred.
75mg Imuran starting 8/23/07---fingers crossed!
Prontonix once daily for acid reflux, zofran twice daily for nausea

Horus,

Burli :)

You seem to be in a real funk right now, I hope you feel better soon...especially since taking it out on others really isn't gonna help you any.

:)

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My bum is broken....there's a big crack down the middle of it!  LOL  :)

I'm trying to learn--I use the information in here to help me. I am not just going to say..."I'm glad the chocolate helped you..." I'd rather say "please tell me more so I can understand if it actually helped and why it helped. I've been hurt (physically) in here over the years trying what others did and I just won't do that anymore. I sometimes feel like I'm being bullied into just saying..."oh, how nice for you that it worked"

Is this just a support group or am I allowed to question?

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The way you're scrutinizing is what the issue is not the fact that you're asking for more info, it just seems like there's an "attitude" attached to it is all I'm saying....it seems obvious from the responses you're getting back and I figured you must be feeling really under the weather or something because you seem so defensive.

Maybe I'm interpreting it all wrong, if so then I'm sorry for that.


:)

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My bum is broken....there's a big crack down the middle of it!  LOL  :)

you're right, pb4...I could have written things in a more positive manner......I'm sorry to all I've offended

Really, I am.

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at

I can say that I feel the same sometimes about being bullied into saying "oh, how nice for you that it worked" as well. This board places a silly level of "overbearing fake kindness and strict manners" to such a degree that it's gone past it's intention and has become a distracting nuisance. I don't mind debates as long as it doesn't include irrational emotional opinions. Hence I don't post here much as a result.

If you want to know where my head is at with this chocolate thing, I must admit I was actually hoping that my experiment would be a wash as a best case scenario. I had suspected the increase in nitric oxide would diminish all the benefits. Plus I was looking for any signs of new bleeding. But I was curious when I read about the anti diarrheal aspect of the chocolate and the incredibly high antioxidant load and it's serotonin boost and felt it might be worth a try in small doses. I was mainly wanting to see if and by how much the stool would firm up if at all. Knowing full well that normal chocolate and milk chocolate and the likes of hot cocoa will give even a normal person the "hershey squirts" i proceeded with caution. What I found was it's best to take it in the morning as the small amount of caffeine in it might induce some to have an "urge" to go. What a great way to wake up and start the day-with chocolate instead of coffee (for those with constipation dominant colitis). Yes, even in remission many still have signs of IBS which can wane from "D" to constipation, seemingly with a mind of it's own. I wanted to see which way I'd go good or bad. I can induce remission fairly easily so the risk for me was worth the experiment. I have to say I've been surprised that I haven't spun out of control. I've even upped the dose of chocolate to a high degree to purposely see if I could really mess things up. NADA. I am more stable than I thought. SO much so that my stools have become even firmer and I've become regular in the mornings if I want to with the inclusion of about a 1/2to 3/4 bar of dark chocolate to get things moving, as I've never been a coffee drinker. I must say a bit cautious as the Nitric oxide aspect has me a bit concerned. If you want to read up about the connection of iNOS and colitis here are a few links :

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=14665440&ordinalpos=19&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17879278&ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=10484382&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=11440827&ordinalpos=7&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=9041266&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus



Now nitric oxide can be both harmful and helpful to UC depending on type and location of action.



I can do these experiments on myself because I'm in a pretty solid stable place right now. Before doing such an experiment I was convinced after reading all the material I could find on nitric oxide and colitis that chocolate would be BAD. MY experiment results so far seem to show that very small amounts are tolerable and can actually do some good. I haven't had chocolate in 7 years. Now I know I don't have to go without as long as I watch myself. Expanding our food and snack choices wisely is a worthwhile endeavor.

I think everyones goal here is to help each other in any way they can, and I know (from my own experiance) it's not always easy to stay upbeat/positive when posting and I think everyone here understands those times as well, just don't want to see it get out of control, there are so many that post here and need support...the more positive and helpful we can be, the better for all.

Everyone gets in a funk from time to time, we're only human...

Have a good night Burli, and everyone eles too.

:)

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My bum is broken....there's a big crack down the middle of it!  LOL  :)

That's because sugar free candy is loaded with sugar alcohols. Which even people wit ha healthy colon it passes right through them and gives alot of healthy people the runs. For us it's worse than sugar itself.