Nuts, Seeds, Popcorn Don't Boost Diverticulosis Risk
Aug. 27 -- TUESDAY, Aug. 26 (HealthDay News) -- People with diverticular disease, a common digestive disorder, are typically told to avoid eating popcorn, nuts, seeds and corn so they don't get painful attacks.
But, a new study calls into question that conventional wisdom. The study of more than 47,000 men found that eating those foods did not seem to increase the risk of diverticulosis or diverticular complications.
"We found, contrary to current recommendations, that actually, consumption of these foods did not increase the risk of diverticulitis or diverticular bleeding and didn't appear to increase the risk of developing diverticulosis or its complications," said study lead author Dr. Lisa Strate, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle.
The findings are published in the Aug. 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Diverticular disease affects the colon, the part of the large intestine that discards waste. Diverticulosis occurs when pouches -- called diverticula -- form in the colon. Stool or bacteria can lodge in the pouches. Diverticulitis occurs when the pouches get inflamed; symptoms can include bleeding, infection or a blockage of the digestive system.
One third of U.S. adults have diverticulosis by age 60, although most do not experience serious problems. By age 85, two-thirds of people have come down with the condition, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
The exact cause isn't known, although many experts blame a low-fiber diet. Muscle strain during defecation may cause the pouches to form.
The advice to avoid nuts, seeds, popcorn and corn comes from the belief that these foods may be more likely to become lodged within the pouches. But there's been no proof demonstrating such a link.
And Strate's study failed to find a link, either. Evaluating data from the long-running Health Professionals Follow-up Study, a cohort of men followed from 1986 to 2004, she and her colleagues looked at medical records every two years and dietary information for every four years. The men ranged in age from 40 to 75.
