It’s quite an experience to look in the face of someone who suffers from Crohn’s or colitis and hear their heartbreaking stories of their life with the disease, one after another…

“I rarely want to leave the house anymore.”

“It’s so embarrassing getting an attack in public.”

“I’ve missed so much time from work that I’m afraid I’ll lose my job if I’m out again.”

“I had to miss an entire semester of school because I had so many attacks.”

“I wish I could have my life back.”

Despite all of our “advances in modern medicine,” up until now, most Crohn’s and colitis sufferers have had just two options for treatment:

Dangerous medications (including steroids) or carving out large sections of their intestines.

And if that sounds like “no big deal” to you, I wish you could meet the 18 year-old boy I met who had his colon removed and couldn’t play football in his senior year of high school like he wanted to.

Plus, he still wasn’t having normal bowel movements and, if he doesn’t make a few simple lifestyle changes, he probably never will.

That might change your mind.

But the good news is that’s all starting to change now.

Because diligent researchers and forward-thinking medical professionals are opening their eyes and their hearts to some exciting new natural treatments.

What I told a number of people at the event and what’s important for anyone with Crohn’s or colitis to know is this:

The key is inflammation relief

Collectively, Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis are known as IBD — inflammatory bowel disease.

As the title suggests, both are characterized by chronic inflammation. The major difference is Crohn’s can occur anywhere in the digestive tract, and UC is confined to the colon.

The chronic inflammation from Crohn’s and UC leads to sores that produce pus, bleeding, excruciating pain and explosive diarrhea that can occur without warning.

So the key to easing IBD symptoms is to find a safe (UNLIKE steroids), effective way to quiet the inflammation.

There are two such answers that are showing impressive results for IBD sufferers:

1- Omega-3 essential fatty acids

Studies are showing that omega-3 fatty acids can help ease the chronic inflammation associated with Crohn’s and UC, which can help prevent attacks and prolong periods of remission.

Here are some exciting illustrations of this:

In a randomized, clinical trial, omega-3 supplements were given to patients who were in remission from Crohn’s disease, but who had a high risk of relapse. No additional medications were given.

Another similar group were given placebos with no other medications.

At the end of a year, a whopping 59% (nearly 6 out of 10) of the patients taking the fish oil supplements were still in remission, compared to just 26% of the placebo group.

Similar findings have been noted for ulcerative colitis sufferers.

In a study conducted by researchers in a St. Louis hospital, 18 patients with active ulcerative colitis (i.e.: having an attack) were treated with either an omega-3 supplement or a placebo.

Those taking the omega-3 supplements were able to cut their steroid medications in HALF — even during an active attack! The placebo group, however, needed MORE medication.

Clearly omega-3 fatty acids are key to reducing the crippling inflammation of IBD.

Studies have long touted fish oil’s ability to help ease the chronic inflammation associated with arthritis, as well as the artery inflammation that can lead to atherosclerosis and heart attack.

Now, easing IBD inflammation is being added to that list!

Learn more about VitalMega-3 and see all the ways that omega-3 essential fatty acid supplementation can help you here:

2- Probiotics

Probiotics can help Crohn’s and UC sufferers in 3 specific ways.:

They help make your digestion more efficient, which helps keep your GI tract calm and quiet. Efficient digestion leads to wastes that move through the lower digestive tract easier, which helps prevent irritation of sore-infested intestines.

When your wastes move through your system as they should, (instead of getting stuck along the colon wall), there is less chance of harmful bacteria overgrowth, which reduces risk of an IBD attack.

Probiotics in your gut help to encourage more of your immune system’s Regulatory T cells to form. Regulatory T cells are your body’s built-in natural inflammation-fighters, and it’s these cells that have been noted to be deficient in IBD sufferers.

Most interestingly, probiotics seem to encourage the cells in your intestinal tract to “think rationally” and not see normal, harmless molecules as something dangerous to attack. This is very good. Because typically with Crohn’s or colitis, your immune cells get mixed up and wage war on healthy, innocent cells — that’s the auto-immune component of IBD and what leads to the sores and bleeding.

So this finding that probiotics encourage your immune system to be smarter and leave healthy tissues alone is an important one.

And the results of the studies conducted speak for themselves:

One particular study conducted in the UK gave a group of colitis patients just one probiotic strain, Bifidobacteria longum, for 30 days, while another group received a placebo.

After the 30 days, the probiotic group showed a SIGNIFICANT reduction in inflammation, while the placebo group continued to suffer with pain, bleeding and diarrhea.

Another study conducted in China and published in the April 2010 World Journal of Gastroenterology concluded that probiotics should be considered part of the treatment plan in the remission induction stage and maintenance stage of ulcerative colitis.

Super Shield probiotic formula’s 13 species of beneficial bacteria have made a difference to THOUSANDS of IBD sufferers.

It contains medical-grade strains of the following bacteria which have been noted to be especially helpful to IBD sufferers:

– Lactobacillus casei
– Lactobacillus plantarum
– Lactobacillus acidophilus
– Lactobacillus bulgaricus
– Bifidobacteria longum
– Bifidobacteria breve
– Bifidobacteria infantis and
– Streptococcus thermophilus

Learn more about Super Shield and how probiotic supplementation may increase your level of health.
If you or someone you love is suffering from Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis, there is hope. See what omega-3 and probiotic supplementation can do for you.