Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory disease of the bowel. Crohn’s disease is most often diagnosed in young adulthood and in adolescence, although it can occur at any age. Crohn’s disease may affect any part of the digestive tract, although it is most common in the colon. While there is no direct cure for Crohn’s disease, there are medications that can help when the Crohn’s disease flares up, and can help keep the Crohn’s disease in remission. Unfortunately, many of these medications may have undesirable side effects. For this reason, people with Crohn’s disease have long looked for other ways to alleviate their suffering.

The good news is that recent research suggests that probiotics may help with the treatment of Crohn’s disease. To understand how probiotics could help with Crohn’s disease, it is important to understand something about probiotics and about how they work. Probiotics help to create a balance of sorts in the gut flora, which is just simply the bacterial environment in the digestive tract. Probiotics are actually live beneficial bacteria that are naturally found in the digestive system. These bacteria help with digestion, and they help to create a barrier against harmful substances. In this way, probiotics strengthen the resistance of the digestive system to harmful substances. In addition to this, it is in the balancing of the gut flora that probiotics may be able to help with Crohn’s disease. Probiotics help to inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria, which contribute to flare ups of Crohn’s disease.

Research regarding how probiotics can help with Crohn’s disease is ongoing. For example, one study of a strain of Lactobacillus probiotic bacteria demonstrated that children given the probiotic demonstrated improved gut barrier function. Still, ongoing studies are needed, as researchers try to find out what specific strains can help the most with particular problems, such as Crohn’s disease.

Crohn’s disease, a subcategory of inflammatory bowel disease, contributes to significant morbidity, particularly in industrialized nations. It can affect people of any age, but is more commonly diagnosed in adolescence and young adulthood. Inflammation and ulceration occur primarily in the terminal ileum and colon, although any portion of the intestinal tract can be affected. No etiology has been identified for Crohn’s disease, although a number of factors contribute to its etiopathogenesis, including genetic, microbial, inflammatory, immune, and permeability abnormalities. Conventional medications are not curative but can contribute to resolution of acute flare-ups and help maintain remission. Because significant side effects are associated with many of these medications, more natural interventions to help maintain remission should be considered. Associated nutrient deficiencies, dietary interventions, and nutrient and botanical supplementation are discussed.

Crohn’s disease (CD) is one of two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the other being ulcerative colitis (UC). Crohn’s Disease is a chronic, relapsing, transmural (affecting all layers of the intestine) inflammation of uncertain etiology that can affect any portion of the digestive tract from mouth to anus, but is predominantly seen in the terminal ileum and/or colon. Intestinal inflammation and ulceration in Crohn’s Disease is asymmetrical and occurs in “patches” with areas of healthy tissue interspersed, and extends deeply into the intestinal wall, forming granulomatous lesions. The disease is named after Dr. Burrill B. Crohn who, with his colleagues Ginzburg and Oppenheimer, published a landmark paper in 1932 describing the features of what is known today as Crohn’s disease. Several categories of Crohn’s Disease have been described, defined by the portion of the digestive tract involved and the presenting symptomatology (Table 1).

Conventional therapies utilized for the treatment of Crohn’s disease include NSAIDS, corticosteroids, aminosalicylates and their derivatives, antibiotics, immunomodulatory drugs, and numerous cutting edge therapies including monoclonal antibody preparations, anti-sense nucleic acid drugs, mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitors, integrin antibody therapy, recombinant growth factors and hormones, and macrolide combination antibiotic therapy. Many of these drugs show promise but are fraught with complications and side effects.

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