Elemental Diet

An elemental diet is temporarily given to those who suffer from Crohn’s disease. It is a liquid diet composed of all of the nutrients that the human body needs to survive. Patients either drink it or it is given to them via a feeding tube or intravenously. Use of this diet as a temporary feeding therapy is supposed to allow the digestive tract of Crohn’s patients to heal. There are several different formulas of this diet used, but they all contain carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes. Current research has shown that this type of diet is often just as successful as steroid treatment at treating and introducing remission to patients. Since steroid therapy has many difficult side effects in children, this diet is quite often used to treat kids.
The elemental diet is clearly a very specialised diet with a clinical purpose. It is not a weight-loss plan. When used properly under a physician’s guidance, this diet has been proven helpful for those suffering an active Crohn’s disease flare-up. It can be hard for both adults and children to replace solid foods with this type of formula. Our society tends to rely heavily upon eating as a social event, and it’s often difficult for those who need to follow this type of diet to adapt to a “formula only” lifestyle. Children often have an especially rough time following this type of plan since many don’t want to drink the formula and yearn to eat the foods they see their peers and other family members consuming.