The Specific
Carbohydrate diet is outlined in the book Breaking the Vicious Cycle by
Elaine Gottschall. It is important to read the book to understand the science
behind the diet and to implement it correctly. The following excerpts are from
peer reviewed medical research about the SCD.
1-
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet for Inflammatory Bowel
Disease: A Case Series. 2015 Journal
of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics https://jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(15)00504-3/fulltext
This gives a good overview of the SCD.
Conclusion:
“This is the first clinical description of a large series of
patients with IBD following the SCD. Our survey results suggest that SCD can
potentially be an effective tool in the management of some patients with IBD
and specifically in patients with colonic and ileocolonic CD who made up the
majority of our study group. A highly educated group of patients follow the
SCD; all but one of the adults in our study had a college or graduate degree.
Our results also suggest that in some patients with moderate to severe disease
who follow this diet, discontinuation of immunosuppressive agents has been
feasible.”
2- Clinical and Fecal Microbial Changes with Diet Therapy in Active
Inflammatory Bowel Disease. 2018 Journal of clinical gastroenterology
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5484760/
Conclusion:
“SCD therapy in IBD is associated with
clinical and laboratory improvements as well as concomitant changes in the
fecal microbiome. Further prospective studies are required to fully assess the
safety and efficacy of dietary therapy in patients with IBD.”
3- Nutritional Adequacy of the Specific
Carbohydrate Diet in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease. 2017 Journal
of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5653423
“Energy intake was significantly
greater than 100% of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA)/Adequate Intake (AI)
for 64% of daily intakes completed for this study. The majority of
participants' daily intakes met or exceeded the RDA for vitamins B2, B3, B5,
B6, B7, B12, C, A, and E. One hundred percent of participants' intakes were
below the RDA for vitamin D. Seventy-five percent of daily intakes were less
than the RDA for calcium. The upper limit was met or exceeded for magnesium in
42% of daily intakes. Average Vitamin A intake was significantly greater than
the upper limit (p=0.01).”
4- The Specific Carbohydrate Diet in the
Treatment of Crohn’s Disease: A Systematic Review 2017 Journal of Gastroenterology
and Hepatology Research http://ghrnet.org/index.php/joghr/article/view/1957/2437
This article gives a review of the
current research of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet with Crohn’s disease.
“Overall, each included study reported findings that indicate clinical benefits of the SCD in the management of CD.”
“Overall, each included study reported findings that indicate clinical benefits of the SCD in the management of CD.”
Conclusion: “As previously stated,
there is increasing interest in the use of oral diet therapy in the treatment
of CD. As this review demonstrated, the SCD has been associated with
significant clinical improvements for many patients, including achievement and
maintenance of remission from active disease. The SCD may indeed prove to be a
viable, safe, and effective treatment for CD. However, it must be emphasized
that stronger study designs are needed to better investigate the true efficacy
of the SCD.”
5-
A Review of Dietary Therapy for IBD and a Vision for the Future
2019 Nutrients
This article focuses on dietary
therapy in general, it is not SCD specific. It looks at the role of the modern
diet and microbiome in IBD and the future of dietary therapies.
“Current IBD therapy focuses on
suppression of the immune system, yet the incomplete efficacy of present drugs
suggests that other therapies must be developed and employed. Dietary
interventions, with known ability to modulate the intestinal microbiome, are a
unique opportunity to improve outcomes in IBD.”
“many diets have been reported to
be efficacious in small case series, including the specific carbohydrate diet
(SCD), IBD anti-inflammatory diet (IBD-AID), Crohn’s disease exclusion diet
(CDED), and semi-vegetarian diet [13]. The SCD developed by Dr. Sydney Haas, a
pediatrician, in the 1930s to treat patients with celiac disease has been one
of the better studies of exclusion diets used in IBD”
“diet is a potential target for
profound intervention. Dietary intervention with EEN or even a shift in fat and
fiber consumption results in a tangible shift in the intestinal microbiome.”
There are links to many more peer reviewed medical journal articles available at: http://www.scdrecipe.com/medical-journal-articles/list
