Nutrients And Crohn’s Disease
Because of the digestive system’s reduced efficiency in the Crohn’s patient, we tend to develop several imbalances in the amount of certain nutrients our bodies carry.
Many of these deficiencies have close cause-and-effect relationships with one another. Vitamin B12 deficiency, for example, is quite common in the Crohn’s patient and appears due to malabsorption and the body’s inability to harvest this and other important nutrients, such as iron, from the food we eat.
Bleeding caused by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract leads to low levels of red blood cells, and because of a lack of vitamin B12 and iron, both of which assist in the production of new cells, these levels are not easily replenished.
When the body is unable to maintain a healthy rate of red blood cell production, anemia occurs and can become worse over time.
Deficiencies of B12 and iron are often treated with B12 injections and iron supplements, although iron in pill form may exacerbate intestinal inflammation and be counter-productive for achieving its goal.
The best way to combat nutrient deficiency is always to consume foods high in the nutrient in question, but in cases where the body is simply not absorbing enough of these important elements in the diet, nutritional supplements may become necessary for the Crohn’s patient.