Written by Catherine Saxelby
on Wednesday, 03 October 2012.
Tagged: fat, guides, health, healthy cooking, healthy eating, tips
Gallstones, small hard “rocks” of cholesterol and calcium, can block the tubes that drain the gallbladder. This blockage causes inflammation of the gallbladder or of the bile drainage tubes. Once this happens you experience terrible pain or colic, fever and even jaundice (skin turns yellow). Here’s what you can do about it.
Bile is made in the liver and stored in the gallbladder until ready to be used to help in the process of digestion. When we eat, this signals the gall bladder that bile is needed. The gall bladder contracts and pushes the bile down into a duct that carries it to the small intestine, where it breaks down any fats eaten.
If the bile becomes too concentrated or ‘supersaturated’, substances in the bile can harden and form small stones that look like gravel. They can range in size from a tiny seed to as large as a golf ball. Generally they are made up of cholesterol (a type of blood fat) but can include calcium and/or bile pigments. Gallstones take years to form.
People with gallstones may experience indigestion or an upset stomach, often noticed after a rich or heavy meal. Many people, however, have gallstones but experience absolutely no symptoms at all. In fact gallstones can exist for years without causing any problems. It’s only when gallstones block the tubes that drain the gallbladder, that the problem begins.
This blockage causes inflammation of the gallbladder (cholecystitis) or of the bile drainage tubes (cholangitis). Symptoms then escalate to include severe pain or colic, fever and even jaundice (skin turns yellow). Symptoms are usually treated by surgery to remove the gallbladder (cholecystectomy) often done by keyhole surgery to minimise major abdominal work.
Eating particular foods will not make gallstones disappear but can certainly lessen your pain whilst you are waiting for your operation.
Once removed, bile that was formerly stored in the gall bladder will now flow directly from the liver to the small intestine rather than being stored in the gallbladder first. The gallbladder is an organ that people can easily live without.
This means you can return to your usual diet. Restricting fat is no longer necessary, however it is healthier to avoid saturated and trans fats as much as possible and eat plenty of fibre.
Check with your doctor about when you can drink alcohol again.
Gallstones are estimated to effect around 10 per cent of people in Western countries, mostly older women. The classic gallstone patient is characterized by the "4Fs": being female, fat, fair and forty. To that we could add another F namely being flatulent.
In fact women between 40 and 60 years of age are twice as likely to develop gallstones as men. There are 6 factors that can increase your likelihood of developing gallstones. These are :
Being even moderately overweight increases the likelihood of developing gallstones because overweight people create more cholesterol and secrete more of it into their bile which is stored in the gall bladder. They also appear to empty their gall bladders less efficiently which makes things worse.
Having close family members with gallstones also increases the chance of developing gallstones and so does having a large number of children.
Slow transit time (the time taken for food to pass through the digestive tract) and constipation encourage the formation of gallstones. Eating more fibre and vegetables is the easiest way to improve your daily diet. This also brings with it a lower risk of bowel cancer, breast cancer and overweight.
People with diabetes generally have high levels of triglycerides (a type of fat in the blood). These increase the risk of gallstones.
Too much oestrogen from hormone replacement therapy or contraceptive pills alters the composition of the bile and decreases gallbladder movement, both of which can make you more prone to gallstones.
During rapid weight loss the body burns fat, causing the liver to secrete extra cholesterol into bile. Fasting slows down the movement of the gallbladder, which further concentrates the bile which can lead to gallstones. It also leaves you constipated which only encourages bile formation.
If you are a woman you are already at reasonable risk, make your priority the risk factors you can change.
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