This posting is a little lengthy but since I've had so much success in such a short period of time after suffering chronically for years, I want to be thorough on this post. I realize there is more than one cause for colitis but in recent weeks I have identified high fructose corn syrup to be ONE of those causes.

I have been suffering with ulcerative colitis for 7 years now being hospitalized a few times already and extremely fatigued and depressed. Like most of you, my GI Dr. has told me there is no cure and we have two options... immunosuppressants and steroids or surgical removal of the colon. (I guess people don't need their colons anymore)

After many desperate attempts at finding an alternative cure and coming up with nothing more than an empty wallet I stumbled upon something that is turning out to be a miracle. Having a food allergy test done (your GI Dr. won't suggest it, just go get one done), I was able to identify a list of safe foods that I could eat without producing an immune inflammation response and stayed on that diet. I noticed that one of the allergies on the test was Sugar cane. It came back as a VERY LOW allergy but an allergy nonetheless. Hoping to find an alternative to my sweet tooth issue and not knowing any better I picked up a box of all natural fruit pops made by Breyers. The main ingredient was fructose (aka corn syrup). I had already eliminated dairy and wheat prior to the allergy test even though they were not identified as food allergies on the test. About the only thing I had been eating for days was chicken. The bleeding stopped as long as I stuck to the foods on the allergy safe list (chicken tested for no allergies).

For desert I had a fruit pop and within 1 hour, I was back on the toilet for the night with blood in my stools, gas, and pain so bad I wanted to vomit. The symptoms came back with a vengance and continued for another full day until it took its course out of my system. The bleeding and pain steadily subsided after this as I immediately eliminated fructose out of my diet and ran upstairs to google fructose (links below). Turns out Fructose is only NATURAL in fruits. However, more and more food manufacturers are genetically making it and replacing regular Sugar with cheaper and sweeter fructose at the expense of people's health! (check out the ingredients in Gatorade, jelly and spreads, fruit juice, soda, etc.) I have eliminated fructose for a little over a week now reintroducing some other foods back into my diet including dairy and wheat. No more blood and less cramping after eliminating fructose 2 days after that fruit pop incident. The prednisone I am taking is finally helping to bring the inflammation down after being ineffective for my last couple flare-ups and I can feel myself healing for the first time! Amen!

What I've come to learn is that colitis is a response to something that keeps re-entering your digestive system. Unless you have a case of colitis caused by bacteria or a parasite (less common) than the symptoms will not stop until you identify the X-factor ingredient and stop putting it into your body. I found this out the hard way after all the medications and herbs would no longer suppress my symptoms. Here are some links on HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. Good info... also gives insight on fructose malabsorption and fructose allergies. I'm curious to see if this helps anyone else out so please feel free to leave feedback!

http://www.foodintol.com/sugar.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose#health_effects
http://www.drmirkin.com/morehealth/3018.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/highfructose.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html