Good news for Diverticulosis Sufferers

Diverticulosis - small pouches or pockets of the inside wall of the colon (large intestine) – is a fairly common condition. It only gets diagnosed by chance on colonoscopy, or when one of the pouches gets infected and inflamed, a condition called diverticulitis, which is similar to appendicitis.

For years people with diverticulosis have been advised by their doctors to avoid hard-to-digest foods, like nuts, corn, and popcorn. The worry was that bits of these foods would lodge in a diverticulum and cause diverticulitis. Now analysis of data from the 50,000 strong Health Professionals Follow-up Study has provided an interesting result, which was announced during the Digestive Disease Week meeting in Seattle .

Men with newly diagnosed diverticular disease in the study were sent specific questionnaires about this in 1986. These have only just been fully analyzed. During the 18-year follow-up there were 383 new cases of diverticular bleeding and 801 new cases of diverticulitis. Eating nuts frequently was linked to a 20% reduction in the risk of diverticular complications. And men with the highest popcorn intake (eaten at least twice a week) had only ¾ the likelihood of developing diverticular complications, compared with those who had a very low intake. So, diverticulosis sufferers, go ahead and eat what you like! (All those wasted years without popcorn!)